The private member’s Bill C-248 to establish Ojibway National Urban Park (C-248) has passed second reading in the House of Commons and the Environment and Sustainable Development Committee. Wildlands League continues our support for the bill as it works its way towards 3rd reading and to park establishment. We have promoted a National Urban Park in Windsor since 2019 for its vital role in protecting nature and its importance to the City of Windsor, including co-management with Indigenous Peoples.
In December, Canada led the world conversation to achieve a global commitment to reach 30% protection of land and water by 2030 at the COP 15 on biodiversity in Montreal. Wildlands League supports Canada’s protection leadership and its pledge to halt and reverse biodiversity loss while fighting climate change.
We encourage all political parties at every level of government to support these goals. Quebec was the first Province to publicly commit to protecting 30% by 2030. It also recognized the importance of protecting nature in and around cities and connecting it through healthy landscapes. We need other provinces, mayors, and municipal leaders across the country to make the same pledge.
Windsor embodies the threats and opportunities that are being faced in and near Canada’s cities. Its Tallgrass Prairie is the most endangered ecosystem in Canada with more rare species than anywhere in Ontario. Tallgrass is also the most resilient to a warming climate and extreme weather. The establishment of a new Ojibway National Urban Park is a great example of what can be done to protect near-urban Nature at the front lines of the of the extinction crisis and the climate emergency.
Together, moving forward with legislation to create a new national urban park in Windsor, there is opportunity to restore, protect and connect the natural landscapes in and around Windsor for an expanded protected areas network connected by ecological corridors. Indeed, it is the only way we will halt and reverse biodiversity loss in Canada’s ecological hotspot.
The private member’s Bill to establish Ojibway National Urban Park (C-248) has passed second reading at the Environment and Sustainable Development Committee. If passed into law, this will be a boon to Windsor where species at risk and flood risk are amongst the highest in Canada. The establishment of a new National Urban Park, co-managed with Indigenous Peoples, is also a great example for Canada and the world of what can be done in and around cities to halt and reverse biodiversity loss and build greater climate resilience.
See MP Brian Masse’s full press release here.
About
Wildlands League is one of Canada’s pre-eminent conservation organizations.
We are strategists and policy experts standing up for nature. Our goal is to make sure at least half of the country is protected forever. We work at the intersection of climate change and nature, recognizing the overlapping nature of these existential threats to life on the planet.
Wildlands both, tackles irresponsible development that threatens precious rivers, lakes, wildlife habitat and carbon reserves; and collaborates with communities, governments, Indigenous Nations, scientists and progressive industry to protect nature.
We are a not-for-profit charity that has been working in the public interest since 1968.
Contact Information
Janet Sumner, Executive Director
janet@wildlandsleague.org
416-579-7370
