Protecting Nature

Defending the nature found in provincial parks in the lands now called Ontario is our responsibility to future generations — old-growth forests and freshwater lakes are an incredible destination for us to visit and gain solace. Algonquin Provincial Park was the first park in Ontario but it is also the most at risk park in the province, as almost two-thirds of Algonquin Provincial Park is designated for industrial logging.

Currently, about 15% of the land now called British Columbia is protected as parks including provincial parks, national parks, Tribal parks, Indigenous protected areas, park reserves, conservancies and ecological reserves. It has taken generations to increase wilderness protection in BC, but it's far from complete.

Two-thirds of the land base now called BC – 60 million hectares – is covered in trees. Only about 22 million hectares of this vast forest was ever suitable for logging, and much of this has already been logged. These logged forests once harboured the biggest trees and the best wildlife habitat. Now, big stumps mark...

Healthy freshwater is a provider, both for us and for nature. The plants that we rely on for food and shelter need clean water, animals need water, and freshwater fisheries are a sustaining part of Indigenous peoples. We need clean drinking water for ourselves and use water to keep our households and cities clean and sanitary. The land we live on and care for is filled with freshwater. It is our responsibility to care for it.

Vast expanses of intact, representative ecosystems in Manitoba provide clean air and clean water. Unfortunately, many of these remaining natural areas are under direct threat from development.

When folks think of experiencing the outdoors, their first thought is often parks. Provincial parks in the lands now called Manitoba are home to sparkling lakes, clear rivers, sandy beaches and wild boreal forests.

The territory, or hahoulthee, of the Nuchatlaht Nation is made up of much of the northern part of Nootka Sound and a large part of the rugged and beautiful Nootka Island. With spectacular ancient forests surrounded by rich Pacific coastal waters, this territory was once abundant with wildlife. But after almost a...

Old-growth forests are diverse: from wet rainforests with towering, mossy Sitka spruce trees and gnarly red cedars with trunks wider than a car's length; to dry forests with contorted Garry oak and arbutus trees and massive Douglas-firs; to high elevation, slow-growing yellow cedars and mountain hemlocks covered in...

Protecting more nature from urban development and destructive industries such as mining and logging is essential to safeguard our future in the face of the global climate crisis and accelerating biodiversity loss.

Many of our environmental policies are the hard-earned result of grassroots community advocacy and reflect the values of the majority of Ontarians. At the same time, they are always at risk of erosion by the powerful corporate interests of developers and industry and require constant vigilance to maintain and evaluate.

The Skagit Headwaters Donut Hole has got to be one of the strangest names for a wilderness area we’ve ever seen. As its name suggests, this area is a “hole” in provincial park protection afforded to the wildlands that surround it.

The South Okanagan and the Similkameen Valleys are one of our greatest conservation opportunities! It's the campaign to protect desert, grasslands and ponderosa pine forests in Syilx peoples' territories (southern BC).

In unceded Pacheedaht Territory, on southern Vancouver Island, one of the most spectacular ancient rainforests is threatened by clearcut logging. Despite decades of protests and blockades, Kaxi:ks [pronounced ka-hecks], or the Walbran Valley, remains largely unprotected.