Canada’s Environment Minister to Visit Washington, D.C.

OTTAWA, August 11, 2005 – The Honourable Stéphane Dion, Minister of the Environment, will be in Washington, D.C., on Friday, August 12, to discuss climate change, the November United Nations Climate Change Conference (UNCCC), and to reaffirm Canada’s continued opposition to future drilling in the 1002 Lands of the Arctic National Wildlife Refuge.

The Minister will meet with Paul Wolfowitz, President, World Bank, to discuss the organization’s climate change program. He will also meet with U.S. Undersecretary for Global Affairs Paula Dobriansky on preparations for the UNCCC in Montreal, as well as on bilateral environmental issues.

Minister Dion will then attend the National Museum of the American Indian National Powwow to pledge support for the Gwich’in, whose way of life, dependent on the Porcupine Caribou herd, is threatened by the prospect of drilling in the Arctic National Wildlife Refuge’s 1002 Lands. The U.S. Congress is expected to vote this September, on whether to permit drilling in the area.

The Minister will be available to media on-site at the event, with Vuntut Gwitchin First Nation Chief Joe Linklater, to express Canada’s position that the Arctic Refuge should remain protected from development.

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