Widow looking for answers after Quebec man dies in Texas Ironman competition
The widow of a Quebec man who died competing in an Ironman competition is looking for answers.
Prime Minister Justin Trudeau was unequivocal Wednesday when asked if Canada was going to meet its goal to protect one-quarter of all Canadian land and oceans by 2025.
"I am happy to say that we are going to meet our '25 by 25' target," Trudeau said during a small roundtable interview with journalists on the sidelines of the nature talks taking place in Montreal.
That goal, which would already mean protecting 1.2 million more square kilometres of land, is just the interim stop on the way to conserving 30 per cent by 2030 -- the marquee target Canada is pushing for during the COP15 biodiversity conference.
But what does the conservation of land or waterways actually mean?
"When we talk about protecting land and water, we're talking about looking at a whole package of actions across broader landscapes," said Carole Saint-Laurent, head of forest and lands at the International Union for Conservation of Nature.
The group's definition of "protected area," which is used by the UN convention on biodiversity, refers to a "clearly defined geographical space" that is managed by laws or regulations with the goal of the long-term protection of nature.
"It can range from areas with very strict protections to areas that are being protected or conserved," said Saint-Laurent.
"We have to look at that entire suite of protective and restorative action in order to not only save nature, but to do so in a way that is going to help our societies. There is not one magical formula, and context is everything."
The organization, which keeps its own global "green list" of conserved areas, lists 17 criteria for how areas can fit the definition.
Most of the criteria are centred on how the sites are managed and protected. One allows for resource extraction, hunting, recreation and tourism as long as these are both compatible with and supportive of the conservation goals outlined for the area.
In many cases, industrial activities and resource extraction are not allowed in protected areas. But that's not always true in Canada, particularly when it involves the rights of Indigenous Peoples on their traditional territory.
In some provincial parks, mining and logging are allowed. In Ontario's Algonquin Park, for example, logging is permitted in about two-thirds of the park area.
Canada has nearly 10 million square kilometres of terrestrial land, including inland freshwater lakes and rivers, and about 5.8 million square kilometres of marine territory.
As of December 2021, Canada had conserved 13.5 per cent of land and almost 14 per cent of marine territory. The government did it through a combination of national and provincial parks and reserves, wildlife areas, migratory bird sanctuaries, national marine conservation areas, marine protected areas and what are referred to as "other effective areas-based conservation measures."
These can include private lands that have a management plan to protect and conserve habitats, or public or private lands where conservation isn't the primary focus but still ends up happening.
Canadian Forces Base Shilo, in Manitoba, includes about 211 square kilometres of natural habitats maintained under an environmental protection plan run by the Department of National Defence.
The Nature Conservancy of Canada is a non-profit organization that raises funds to buy plots of land from private owners with a view to long-term conservation.
Mike Hendren, its Ontario regional vice-president, said that on such lands, management plans can include everything from nature trails to hunting -- but always with conservation as the priority.
To hit "25 by 25," Canada must further protect more than 1.2 million square kilometres of land, or approximately the size of Manitoba and Saskatchewan added together. To get to 30 per cent is to add, on top of that, land almost equivalent in size to Alberta.
The federal government would need to protect another 638,000 square kilometres of marine territory and coastlines by 2025, or an area almost three times the size of the Gulf of St. Lawrence. By 2030, another area the size of the gulf would need to be added.
Trudeau said that in a country as big and diverse as Canada, hard and fast rules about what can and can't happen in protected areas don't make sense.
He said there should be distinctions between areas that can't have any activity and places where you can mine, log or hunt, as long as it is done with conservation in mind.
"There's ability to have sort of management plans that are informed by everyone, informed by science, informed by various communities, that say, 'yes, we're going to protect this area and that means, no, there's not going to be unlimited irresponsible mining going to happen,"' he said.
"But it doesn't mean that there aren't certain projects in certain places that could be the right kind of thing, or the right thing to move forward on."
The draft text of the biodiversity framework being negotiated at COP15 is not yet clear on what kind of land and marine areas would qualify or what conservation of them would specifically mean.
It currently proposes that a substantial portion of the conserved land would need to be "strictly protected" but some areas could respect the right to economic development.
The widow of a Quebec man who died competing in an Ironman competition is looking for answers.
Former NDP leader Tom Mulcair says that what's happening now in a trash-littered federal park in Quebec is a perfect metaphor for how the Trudeau government runs things.
The world is seeing a near breakdown of international law amid flagrant rule-breaking in Gaza and Ukraine, multiplying armed conflicts, the rise of authoritarianism and huge rights violations in Sudan, Ethiopia and Myanmar, Amnesty International warned Wednesday as it published its annual report.
A photographer who worked for Megan Thee Stallion said in a lawsuit filed Tuesday that he was forced to watch her have sex, was unfairly fired soon after and was abused as her employee.
Facing pushback from physicians and businesspeople over the coming increase to the capital gains inclusion rate, Prime Minister Justin Trudeau and his deputy Chrystia Freeland are standing by their plan to target Canada's highest earners.
The Senate passed legislation Tuesday that would force TikTok's China-based parent company to sell the social media platform under the threat of a ban, a contentious move by U.S. lawmakers that's expected to face legal challenges.
People living near a wildfire burning about 15 kilometres southwest of Peace River are being told to evacuate their homes.
The U.S. Senate has passed US$95 billion in war aid to Ukraine, Israel and Taiwan, sending the legislation to President Joe Biden after months of delays and contentious debate over how involved the United States should be in foreign wars.
A Winnipeg man said a single date gone wrong led to years of criminal harassment, false arrests, stress and depression.
The giant stone statues guarding the Lions Gate Bridge have been dressed in custom Vancouver Canucks jerseys as the NHL playoffs get underway.
A local Oilers fan is hoping to see his team cut through the postseason, so he can cut his hair.
A family from Laval, Que. is looking for answers... and their father's body. He died on vacation in Cuba and authorities sent someone else's body back to Canada.
A former educational assistant is calling attention to the rising violence in Alberta's classrooms.
The federal government says its plan to increase taxes on capital gains is aimed at wealthy Canadians to achieve “tax fairness.”
At 6'8" and 350 pounds, there is nothing typical about UBC offensive lineman Giovanni Manu, who was born in Tonga and went to high school in Pitt Meadows.
Kevin the cat has been reunited with his family after enduring a harrowing three-day ordeal while lost at Toronto Pearson International Airport earlier this week.
Molly Knight, a Grade 4 student in Nova Scotia, noticed her school library did not have many books on female athletes, so she started her own book drive in hopes of changing that.
Almost 7,000 bars of pure gold were stolen from Pearson International Airport exactly one year ago during an elaborate heist, but so far only a tiny fraction of that stolen loot has been found.