Why the world needs a little less Canada in 2018
Barack Obama, then United States president, told Parliament in 2016 that: “The world needs more Canada.” Banners in Chapters bookstores proclaimed the same message in 2017, by way of celebrating Canada’s 150th anniversary. But considering the harm to nature that Canadians cause, the inconvenient truth is that the world needs less Canada. Indeed, if the world’s other species could vote on which humans should be voted off Turtle Island, Canadians would be […]
It’s high time to upgrade the Fisheries Act
If once upon a time the belief that fisheries were an endless natural resource was common, it is now abundantly clear that it is not. Fisheries are declining fast around the globe, and Canada is not exempt from this. For example, the Committee on the Status of Endangered Wildlife in Canada (COSEWIC), an independent advisory […]
It’s Canada’s time to lead on a renewed Law of the Sea
In 2003, George W. Bush’s administration established a novel initiative to prevent attacks on American interests from the sea, or to prevent transport of fissile materials that could be used in weapons of mass destruction. It was called the Proliferation Security Initiative, or PSI. Two events were uppermost in American minds when it came to […]
Feds in serious danger of betraying environmental assessment reform promises
Unless the Trudeau government takes a sharp turn, fixing Canada’s environmental assessment law will be just one more bold commitment it won’t deliver on. The recent discussion paper outlining the federal government’s plans suggests little more than tinkering with the 2012 devastating re-write of the Canadian Environmental Assessment Act by Stephen Harper’s Conservative government. The […]
Canada’s ocean protection ripple could become a wave
Last week, a Canadian delegation joined world leaders in New York to support the United Nations’ goal to conserve and sustainably use the world’s oceans, seas and marine resources. Canada borders three oceans and has the world’s longest coastline, so marine protection should be central to our international reputation. A World Wildlife Fund poll shows 83 per cent of people in Canada are […]
New fishery closures key to feds’ 2017 marine protection goal
The federal government will lean on new fishery closures to meet its goal of protecting five per cent of Canada’s marine territory by 2017, an ambitious plan that has the opposition Conservatives and some people in the fishing industry nervous about possible restrictions on their livelihood. The Liberal Party campaigned last year on a promise […]
Coast guard’s aging fleet ‘risks falling below international standards’: Internal brief
The agency responsible for the search-and-rescue fleet patrolling Canada’s waters has trouble meeting the expectations set out for it by the government, often sacrificing “needed investments in fleet and shore-based maintenance” in its ships and relying on temporary funding to make ends meet. The Canadian Coast Guard (CCG) is under rising pressure to replace old […]
Why a West Coast aquarium is working with the feds to study the Arctic
Not long after the Vancouver Aquarium Marine Science Centre first opened its doors six decades ago, a team of adventurous employees and researchers travelled to the Arctic to explore the icy, windswept reaches of Canada’s North. In the years since, our Arctic research expeditions have become an annual practice, with scientists heading north each summer […]
The Arctic is the planet’s canary
In the early days of the Industrial Revolution, before the advent of equipment capable of monitoring the build-up of dangerous gases, miners would take a canary down deep in the mine. Its tiny metabolism was far more sensitive to the gases than were the miners. If the canary keeled over, it was time to get […]
Canada should restrict access to northern water corridors
The Canadian government should consider placing restrictions on the number of corridors allowed for access to the Arctic waters in order to reduce two important risks: loss of life and environmental impact. The risk of a marine accident in the Arctic is not a theoretical exercise. In August 1996, the Hanseatic cruise ship ran aground […]
