Articles by CPAWS
CPAWS is Canada's voice for wilderness. Since 1963 we've led in creating over two-thirds of Canada's protected areas. That amounts to about half a million square kilometres - an area bigger than the entire Yukon Territory! Our vision is that Canada will protect at least half of our public land and water. As a national charity with 13 chapters, over 50 staff, 40,000 supporters and hundreds of volunteers, CPAWS works collaboratively with governments, local communities, industry and indigenous peoples to protect our country's amazing natural places. We're also on guard to ensure that our parks are managed to protect the nature within them.
Despite Public Support, BC Still Saying “No” to National Park Reserve in South Okanagan-Similkameen
Last week, the province of British Columbia quietly posted the results of an 8-year feasibility study for the creation of a national park in the South Okanagan-Similkameen. The federal-provincial study cost millions of tax payer dollars, and even though it was completed back in December 2010, it wasn’t until last week that the study was officially made public.
American mining company to carve 350 km private road through pristine Boreal wilderness
Not since the jailing of the KI 6, have I seen Ontario get it so wrong. Last week, Ontario announced it had reached an “initial agreement” with an American coal and iron mining giant called Cliffs Natural Resources Inc. to mine chromite (used to make stainless steel) in the Ring of Fire. The two parties separately announced the results of their behind closed doors business deal. Most of the media coverage that followed focused on the selection of Sudbury for the smelter, which was portrayed as Ontario’s prize. What didn’t get nearly enough attention was how much was this going to cost us. Very little attention, for example, was paid to the subsidy that Cliffs secured on power rates for the smelter which could be upwards of $100 million per year (Cliffs should be thanking us for subsidizing their operations, by the way). The commitment to use taxpayers’ money to build a $600 million private, all-weather, north-south road was also largely buried.
Update on major announcement in Ontario’s North
Update. Recently Ontario announced it had reached an agreement with God’s Lake Resources. Hurray! They were finally dispatched with and now we and the community can now breathe a big sigh of relief. With this latest move, the province added to the land withdrawal it commenced in early March. The total land area that has been withdrawn from staking and mineral exploration covers over 2.355 million ha of native lands in the Boreal Forest. It is an awesome achievement for KI and for all of its supporters, people just like you.
A voyage through Gwaii Haanas National Park Reserve
The sun glinting off a glassy sea, so smooth you think you could walk on it; shorelines composed of mountains, rocks and forests; on sunny days, showing a perfect reflection of their beauty in the water; on foggy days, mysterious, moody and misty, but still beautiful; Orcas, humpbacks and fin whales cavorting in the ocean, breaching and flipping their tails as they dive.... In 2010, CPAWS celebrated the creation of the Gwaii Haanas National Park Reserve with a series of lectures across Canada. Bluewater Adventures generously donated a berth on their seven-day sailboat cruise through the park as a lottery prize at the lectures. I was fortunate enough to win, and took the cruise in July of 2011
Making progress on mining issues in Ontario’s north
This past week, Ontario made a historic announcement and protected over 2.3 million ha of native lands from staking and prospecting in the far north. This was in response to the long standing moratorium declared by Kitchenuhmaykoosib Inninuwug (KI). In its announcement, the government said it withdrew the lands “from prospecting and mining claim staking to give clarity to the province's mineral exploration industry and avoid future disagreements over the land in question”. To give you a sense of the size of this area, picture not 1 Greenbelt or 2 Greenbelts around Metro Toronto, picture something bigger than 3 Greenbelts or more than 3 Algonquin Parks. The last time Ontario withdrew land on this scale was in 1999 during Lands for Life. The last time Ontario withdrew anything this size in one shot was in 1970 when they established Polar Bear Provincial Park. See the map here.
