Environment committee  Thanks, Ron. Parks Canada has made significant contributions to protected areas. In fact, we protect 3.53% of the 12.1% protected for terrestrial. That's the largest federal contribution—we make up 75% of the federal contribution—and the largest contribution of any organization.

Environment committee  Sure, I can continue. There are three other things that are really important in terms of protected areas and they have to do with their management. We have a program investing about $15 million a year in projects for conservation and restoration. We're targeting 92% of our pla

Environment committee  As is noted, the Government of Canada committed to expanding Canadians' access to nature by creating a system of national urban parks. Those will have positive benefits for biodiversity, climate, connecting people to nature, reconciliation, and equitability as well. There are a n

Environment committee  Thank you very much. Last August, we launched the national urban parks program. We're concurrently developing the policy while we have assigned currently six collaborative agreements with municipalities and indigenous communities in a variety of locations, one of them being in t

Environment committee  Yes. Thank you. We have $130.9 million for the next five years to work on the establishment of six national urban parks. That will be mainly for feasibility studies and support for partners to work with us and to get those parks to establishment. There is some limited money for

Environment committee  We do a number of different works and studies. Parks Canada is currently developing a carbon atlas series that looks at mapping carbon stores across our places. That will help us in the management moving forward. We also have a climate adaptation framework. That's been done in c

Environment committee  In terms of restoration, I can share that we're investing over $10 million a year in ecological restoration projects. The priority of those projects is informed by the monitoring program. Where we know ecosystems are under particular stress, that is where we prioritize projects.

Environment committee  As you are aware, we received funding in budget 2021 for up to six new national parks, and there is a commitment for more to come. We have seven projects under way, right now, coast to coast. In several of those places, we have established partner committees that are now actively

Environment committee  We are working with partners on the national adaptation strategy. Parks Canada signed an international joint statement, which was presented at COP26. It acknowledges protected areas as nature-based solutions to climate adaptation. We've done analysis within Parks Canada, and we k

Environment committee  Thank you and good day. I'm pleased to be here today on behalf of Parks Canada. Let me begin by acknowledging that I'm on the unceded traditional territory of the Algonquin Anishinabe people and that the lands covered by Bill C-248 are in the traditional territories of the Anis

Environment committee  We have a process that begins with all the partners around the table. We apply three steps for exploring every topic from boundaries, to governance and many other things. The first step is a feasibility study. We consult all the interested parties and determine whether they wan

Environment committee  We met with the indigenous communities at the start of the project and asked them whether they were interested in this. We now have agreements and we also support their participation in this process from a financial perspective. My colleagues may be able to speak to other relati

Environment committee  The process for creating protected areas takes time. It calls for creating relationships and waiting. Although it takes time, it is worth it. At the end of the process, we have a place that will often be co‑managed, which is good for everyone.

Environment committee  No. That's fine.

Environment committee  Thanks for the question. We have the authority to create national urban parks just with our existing authorities under the Parks Canada Agency Act. We can receive land. We can administer land. The option in the way in which we've been looking at the national urban parks program