Response of the Minister of the Environment to Recommendations Made
at the Third Minister’s Round Table on Parks Canada (2005)
Towards a Culture of Conservation
Recommendations to make progress toward
building a culture of conservation were made under three sub-themes:
Educating and Engaging Canadians; Leadership and Management; and, Partnerships
with Indigenous Peoples.
Sub-theme I – Educating and Engaging Canadians
Recommendation 1 – Education and Outreach:
Develop education programs on conservation that accommodate different
interests and learning styles.
Youth – Invest in curriculum development that conveys the need
to strengthen caring for the environment, create new or expanded education
tools, including Webbased lesson plans for teachers and youth conservation
programs;
Local Community – Develop outreach programs to educate and engage
local community (in Parks Canada sites) as ambassadors and partners,
and expand the distribution of the Parks Canada conservation message
through virtual tours of parks and sites and the engagement of volunteers
at national historic sites not administered by Parks Canada.
Response:
Parks Canada’s goal is to foster the next generation of heritage
stewards by offering them rich learning experiences in Canada’s
natural and cultural heritage. Through the Parks Canada in Schools
program, the Agency will continue to develop, in partnership with
educators across the country, educational material that addresses
provincial and territorial curricula. These learning materials will
be added to the Parks Canada Web site and can be used by youth conservation
organisations. Parks Canada will involve local communities and work
with them to develop initiatives that promote a culture of conservation
among residents, volunteers, visitors and other partners.Virtual tours
that are already available on the Parks Canada Web site will be enhanced
and their number increased. Parks Canada will also continue to work
closely with provincial associations of national historic sites operators
to share conservation values and best practices with their volunteers.
(Also see recommendations13 and 15 for related content.)
Recommendation 2 – Communicating:
Communicate “the culture of conservation” (cultural and
natural) with passion and urgency that engages Canadians:
- Review the terminology to ensure it captures people’s interest;
- Give free access to various groups;
- Facilitate access to natural areas and historic sites in cities;
- Develop an orientation strategy for “new Canadians”
through:
- the citizenship process,
- marketing of the Canadian nature brand,
- spiritual groups.
Response:
Parks Canada will work with partners and other jurisdictions to help
define and promote a “culture of conservation” to engage
more Canadians in shared stewardship. Parks Canada will consider how
it uses terminology in educating Canadians on matters of ecological
and commemorative integrity as it works to build the awareness and
understanding that are essential to achieve a conservation culture.
The Agency will consider targeted incentives to ensure access for
key audiences and will also use its locations within major urban areas
as gateways to the larger system of protected heritage areas across
the country. In addition, the Agency will continue to explore opportunities
to develop urban discovery centres, thus enabling Canadians to connect
with each other and with their heritage. A partnership strategy will
also be pursued to find new ways to make Canada’s natural and
cultural heritage meaningful and relevant to new Canadians. In particular,
Parks Canada will endeavour to develop, in collaboration with other
federal partners, learning material on national parks and national
historic sites of Canada for new Canadians.
Sub-theme II – Leadership and Management
Recommendation 3 – Research:
Set up a historical and ecological/conservation heritage observatory
to:
- conduct socio-economic market research;
- develop a 30-year perspective;
- assess the fulfillment of national and international agreements;
- inform the development of policies and programs to ensure the achievement
of Parks Canada’s vision, as well as national and international
agreements.
Response:
Parks Canada will consider this innovative idea in relation to its
current work with other federal departments and agencies, non-governmental
organizations and universities. An observatory function will be considered
as a means of strengthening the Agency’s socio-economic research
efforts. Parks Canada will enhancing its social science capacity with
the addition of a lead social scientist to help facilitate innovative
ways of partnering with the academic and social science sector. Partners
will be consulted to discuss the mandate and potential governance arrangements
to support an observatory of this nature. Parks Canada will also enhance
cooperation with the existing Canadian Cultural Observatory at the Department
of Canadian Heritage (www.culturescope.ca).
With respect to the fulfillment of national and international agreements,
Parks Canada is working with the Canadian Wildlife Service and the Federal/Provincial/Territorial
Canadian Parks Council to implement a national framework for action
on protected areas that will help fulfill and report on Canada’s
obligations under the Convention on Biological Diversity’s program
of work on protected areas. As state member under the World Heritage
Convention, Parks Canada provides periodic and reactive monitoring reports
to the UNESCO World Heritage Centre that demonstrate how the requirements
of the World Heritage convention are met in the management of Canadian
world heritage sites.
Recommendation 4 – Best Practices
Identify flagship parks as demonstrations of best practices in conservation
and education, and cultivate national park model communities where stewardship,
sustainability and best practices are encouraged and rewarded.
Response:
Parks Canada is currently taking actions to address this recommendation.
Five national parks (Gros Morne, Fundy, Saint Lawrence Islands, Prince
Albert and Jasper) actively participate in the Model Forest program,
which provides a venue for discussions with adjacent landowners on how
to manage land for both sustainability and ecological integrity. The
Agency is investing in 11 national parks to promote best practices both
within and outside the park and to demonstrate measurable progress on
issues related to:
- Better park management
- Partnerships
- Ecosystem restoration
- Informing, influencing and involving Canadians
Six of Canada’s 13 biosphere reserves also are centered on national
parks, creating a wonderful forum to put into practice principles of
sustainable development. The biosphere reserves help to address resource
conservation issues in a cooperative way by involving government agencies,
Aboriginal peoples, other landowners and different community groups.
Parks Canada is committed to the objective of national park model communities
of environmental stewardship. The principle of No Net Negative Environmental
Impact (3NEI) is applied to all national park communities to ensure
they do not negatively affect the ecological health of adjacent park
lands. A 3NEI performance framework that includes monitoring and action
plans to mitigate the ecological impact of each national park community
will be in place by 2006.
Recommendation 5 – Private Funding:
Establish a “Heritage Conservancy of Canada” organization
(NGO) as a vehicle to ensure long-term financial support for heritage
conservation (modeled on Nature Conservancy of Canada).
Response:
Parks Canada is willing to pursue the concept of a Heritage Conservancy
within the framework of the Historic Places Initiative. Such a national
non-governmental organization could help contribute to the goal of strengthening
a culture of heritage conservation in Canada, by helping to build public
profile, and by encouraging corporate and individual investment and
philanthropy in support of historic places.The concept of a national
trust for Canada, similar to those in other countries, was one of the
earliest elements of the Historic Places Initiative, and has been discussed
in particular with the Heritage Canada Foundation and provincial and
territorial governments.
Recommendation 6 – Advisory Council:
Create a knowledge advisory council comprising universities/colleges,
NGOs and First Nations researchers to:
- Advance research in and about parks
- Encourage mutual understanding of park and research cultures, and
- Use the research community as a lever for advancing Parks Canada’s
mandate.
Response:
Parks Canada will explore options to meet the goal of having a knowledge
advisory council.
Sub-theme III – Partnerships with Indigenous
Peoples
Recommendation 7 – Holistic and Traditional Approach
Create meaningful partnerships with indigenous people to promote the
relevance of parks using a holistic view and including traditional knowledge
Response:
Parks Canada has committed to build on the rich tradition of Canada’s
Aboriginal peoples as currently demonstrated by major ecological integrity
projects in the Yukon and Nunavut that incorporate traditional knowledge
in the park management process.
Parks Canada will act on this recommendation through the pursuit of
several initiatives, including support of the development and communication
of best practices associated with the policy entitled: “Use of
National Parks by Aboriginal People for Traditional Spiritual and Ceremonial
Purposes”; the respectful inclusion of traditional knowledge and
holistic approaches in the management of national parks.
Recommendation 8 – Traditional Language
and Knowledge
Use traditional language and knowledge in:
- place names,
- signage,
- interpretation,
- programming,
- management plans.
Response:
Parks Canada will develop an Agency-wide strategy for the use of traditional
language and knowledge in the abovementioned areas.
Recommendation 9 – Indigenous Leadership
Provide support for indigenous people to take a leadership role (e.g.Victoria
Island, Culture/Science camps, elder and youth camps).
Response:
Parks Canada will work with federal and Aboriginal partners to support
indigenous peoples to take a leadership role. Furthermore, the Agency
will continue to support the Aboriginal leadership and development program
for Parks Canada’s Aboriginal employees.
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