Nature On The Hill Day

On February 4. 2020, CPAWS Ottawa Valley took part in Nature On The Hill, an annual gathering for environment and nature groups from across Canada to participate in discussions with MPs and Ministers about the state of the environment, and to encourage them to take action. Over 40 groups gathered to represent Canadians and their desire to protect nature, working as a unified voice to demand that our federal representatives create lasting protection for land, water and species. We were most pleased to be participating in this event as it was a great opportunity for CPAWS-OV to learn and share our knowledge of the region and the work that we do, including our programs and campaigns. The meetings themselves were spread out among several of the buildings on Parliament Hill. This was my first experience participating in a lobbying event and becoming involved with MPs on Parliament Hill, and I was excited to be inside the some of the grand, old buildings which represented such a significant part of Canadian history.

There were three “asks” for the elected officials:

1. Achieving targets: The government should complete its commitments to reach 17% protection of land and freshwater by the end of 2020, moving to achieve the next target of protecting 25% of land and by 2025 and 30% by 2030. 
2. Scaling up investment: The commitment to ambitious protected area targets, including support for Indigenous-led conservation, must be matched with a plan for long-term budget investments, starting in the 2020 federal budget.
3. Showing global leadership: Canada should follow through on its commitment to play an active role on the world stage to ensure adoption of 30% protection by 2030 as a global target for all countries at the UN this year. 

CPAWS-OV staff attended and spent the day in meetings with 2 or 3 MPs. With each meeting lasting around half an hour, we had the opportunity to discuss the importance of our primary “asks” and how the MPs could help. The two MPs I was assigned with meeting were Pam Damoff (Liberal representing the riding of Oakville North-Burlington) and Yasmin Ratansi (Liberal representing the riding of Don Valley East). They were in the exquisite Valour (La Promenade) and Confederation buildings.

We had great conversations on the current and future state of the environment, and what they could do in their positions to take the initiative in achieving our targets and show strong support for nature protection across the country. During my meetings, the MPs took an interest in our stance and were pleased to share their personal anecdotes. I felt that we certainly shared a common ground and that they would be pleased to move forward in the future keeping nature protection in mind. Our meetings ended with photos and encouragement for them to share our information with colleagues and on social media. In between meetings, we were able to discuss our thoughts and summaries with colleagues and meet with new people from other environmental and nature groups with the same agenda. This was overall a very positive experience for me and the CPAWS-OV staff.

Our Nature On The Hill Day wrapped up with a reception in the evening, where all of our groups and several MPs and Ministers came together to discuss further and mingle, with several inspiring presentations including remarks by Minister of Environment and Climate Change, Jonathan Wilkinson and Parks Canada CEO, Ron Hallman. This day was an important one, especially for CPAWS where much of our work is focused on conservation and doing the most that we can to achieving Canada’s targets on protected areas. We would like to express our gratitude for our colleagues at Nature Canada who successfully lead the organization of this important event.