With effective protections in place, Canada can emerge as a global leader in safeguarding nature and supporting Indigenous-led conservation.
Through the conservation Canada project, The Pew Charitable Trusts works with in-country organizations, Indigenous leaders, and policymakers to conserve ocean areas and the boreal forest, and to protect the health of marine and terrestrial habitats for the benefit of residents and others who depend on these ecosystems.
Pew also works alongside Indigenous communities, philanthropists, and other partners to advance conservation in Canada through the Enduring Earth collaboration, and supports Indigenous-led conservation efforts through the Blue Nature Alliance partnership. In addition, through Pew’s international fisheries and ocean governance projects, the organization is engaging with Canada as it works to protect rich and diverse global marine life.
The people of Pabineau First Nation (PFN) have lived along the banks of the Nepisiguit River since time immemorial—as they say—in what is now the province of New Brunswick, Canada.
A steady breeze carries the smell of smoking goose and beaver meat to a circle of people gathered on the shore of lake Pekuakami on a brilliant mid-June day in the Ilnu community of Mashteuiatsh, Quebec. The group is sharing stories about working together, some for more than two decades, on a campaign to conserve the lands and waters of the boreal forest in Canada.
First Nations have lived in what is now known as Canada since long before the country was established. In recent years, as part of what’s known as Reconciliation, the government of Canada has begun restoring rights and autonomy to many Indigenous communities. In the province of Newfoundland and Labrador, the South Coast Fjords area is among the most productive marine environments in Atlantic Canada. Among the priorities of the Miawpukek First Nation (MFN) and Qalipu First Nation (QFN) is to protect these economically, culturally, and historically valuable lands and waters that supported their ancestors and still support their way of life.
Marine animals, including critically endangered North Atlantic right whales, can die after becoming entangled in fishing gear, particularly the ropes that connect pots and traps on the seafloor to buoys on the surface. To help solve this problem, gear developers have created “on-demand” or “ropeless” fishing gear that require fewer ropes, reducing the risk to marine creatures. This type of gear uses global positioning systems (GPS) or acoustic marking technology instead of buoys at the water’s surface to mark the locations of traps.
On World Oceans Day, June 8, the Government of Canada announced the establishment of the Eastern Canyons Marine Refuge, an area of 43,976 square kilometres (about 17,000 square miles) off the coast of Nova Scotia.
