In this blizzard of government cuts, it is important to understand what is being lost. The government spin is that these are just "finding efficiencies" and there will be "no reduction in service." Such spin is simply nonsense. Parks Canada is being gutted.
The cuts impact 50 Parks Canada ecosystem scientists - fully one-third of the agency's entire scientific complement. Thirty-six of these scientists are now surplus and 14 are "affected," meaning that their jobs are at stake. These are highly-educated public servants with decades of experience in ecological restoration and understanding natural systems. These are the people who know what is happening to Canadian ecosystems and how to restore endangered species like caribou, salmon and rare plants.
More than one-quarter of Parks Canada's technical specialists who support science and ecosystem management are being cut: geographic information specialists, remote sensing specialists, monitoring technicians and human-wildlife conflict specialists. Parks Canada has also eliminated its entire in school program. In an age where our children are increasingly alienated from nature, this is not good news.
People within Parks Canada who have spent years diligently building relationships of trust and respect with members of First Nations are also being let go. It is hard to believe that these relationships will not suffer as a result.
A decade ago, the minister responsible for our national parks accepted a report from a panel of experts, which I chaired. We had taken two years to examine the problems our parks were facing. Our report concluded our natural treasures were indeed in danger and the minister accepted all of the report's recommendations.
Our recommendations covered a wide range of necessary changes: to increase scientific understanding and capacity to monitor ecological health, to restore degraded park lands, to rebuild relationships with Aboriginal peoples and to develop better programs for Canadians to learn about and connect to the natural world.
Successive governments took these recommendations seriously and Parks Canada developed a world-class monitoring and science program.
Based on this scientifically rigorous information, Parks Canada was able to take bold steps to restore lakes, prairies, forests and species at risk. Relations with Aboriginal peoples dramatically improved and national parks became part of the curriculum in schools across Canada. These investments contributed to national and international recognition for Parks Canada: last year, the agency received the World Wildlife Fund's Gift to the Earth Award.
All these achievements are now at risk: they will be eliminated or dramatically undermined. Is it too late to reconsider before we undo a decade of great progress?
Original Article
Source: ottawa citizen
Author: Jacques Gérin
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