Canada announces new national park

Canada initiates a new era in conservation
OTTAWA, Nov. 22 /CNW/ – Yesterday’s interim land withdrawal announcement by the Government of Canada and several First Nations – protecting more than 10 million hectares in the Northwest Territories – was one of the most significant land decisions in Canadian history, and the Canadian Boreal Initiative (CBI) hopes people around the world recognize it as signalling a new era in conservation thinking.

OTTAWA, Nov. 21 (Xinhua) — Canada announced Wednesday it will create two huge conservation areas to protect the boreal forest and tundra in the North.
Environment Minister John Baird told a news conference in Ottawa that the two protected areas in Northwest Territories will cover 10 million hectares and are among the largest in Canadian history.
Canada is “withdrawing massive areas from industrial development to protect some of the most impressive ecological and cultural wonders in the North for generations to come,” he said.

Canada to Protect Over 25 Million Acres of Boreal Forest Wilderness
These government actions come as the result of long-standing park and wildlife area proposals and land rights settlement agreements with local aboriginal First Nations, assisted and supported by several environmental organizations, including the Pew Environment Group, the Canadian Boreal Initiative, Ducks Unlimited, and World Wildlife Fund. The land protection orders prevent any harm to the areas and will allow the government and First Nations to complete paperwork and planning for these new parks and conservation lands over the next several years.
The Canadian Boreal Forest is the largest intact forest remaining on the planet, rivaling the Amazon in size and ecological importance. It stores twice as much carbon per acre as tropical rainforests, preventing global warming from being even worse. Canada’s Boreal teems with wildlife, including nesting grounds for billions of migratory songbirds and 40% of North America’s waterfowl. Canada’s Boreal is also home to some of the world’s largest remaining populations of grizzly and polar bears, wolves, woodland and tundra caribou.

The East Arm of Great Slave Lake will be designated as culturally significant
UNNATI GANDHI
Globe and Mail
November 21, 2007
The federal government is expected to announce the creation of a new national park in the Northwest Territories today.
Environment Minister John Baird, along with Indian Affairs Minister Chuck Strahl, is expected to designate the East Arm of Great Slave Lake as significant to the culture of Canada in an announcement at the Canadian Museum of Nature in Ottawa.
Park status would protect the sprawling land from diamond and uranium companies, which are already working just north of the potential boundaries. It would also protect wildlife and traditional hunting grounds, said Bill Erasmus, Assembly of First Nations NWT regional chief.
“These are very significant, culturally sensitive areas,” he told The Globe and Mail, just after he arrived in Ottawa last night.
The government is also expected to announce some land withdrawals and the protection of the Ramparts, near Fort Good Hope, which encompasses 15,000 square kilometres of wetlands and other habitat for birds, including peregrine falcons.
It contains many archeological sites and is considered sacred ground.
Mr. Erasmus said the land withdrawals within the Akaitcho territory are important because they mean that “while these people are negotiating their self-government, part of their lands that are important to them will be set aside and protected, so less development and usage of the land will occur.” With a report from Bill Curry in Ottawa
Parks Canada Announcement

The announcement of the new conservation area attracted attention around the world, much more than the complementary announcement made less than a month ago
OTTAWA – The largest freshwater marine protected area in the world is being set up off the northern shores of Lake Superior, Canadian Prime Minister Stephen Harper announced on Thursday.
The national marine conservation area will encompass more than 10,000 sq. km (3,900 sq. miles) of Lake Superior, the biggest of the Great Lakes, including lake bed, islands and north shorelands.
The area — about the size of Lebanon — stretches to the east of Thunder Bay, Ontario, and down to the Canada-US border, north of Michigan’s Upper Peninsula.
The area seeks to balance environmental protection with preserving the livelihood of local residents who work in marine industries such as commercial and sport fishing and shipping.