Question Period Note: Oceans Protection Plan

Oceans Protection Plan

At $1.5-billion over five years, the Oceans Protection Plan (OPP) represents the largest investment in marine safety ever made by the Government of Canada, and is an important step toward the realization of Canada’s potential as a world-leading ‘blue power.’

We partner with Indigenous and coastal communities to develop a world-leading marine safety system that meets the unique needs of Canada from coast-to-coast-to-coast.

Among the many initiatives, we are investing in increasing our capacity in search and rescue, improving our environmental response capability and restoring our coasts by addressing ecosystem threats and biodiversity loss.

Budget 2021 Funding for OPP Indigenous Community Boats Program
The Indigenous Community Boat Volunteer Program increases marine safety at a local level by providing funding directly to communities to purchase equipment to support their membership in the Canadian Coast Guard Auxiliary.

Through the community boat program, Indigenous coastal communities can purchase the equipment they need in order to enhance marine safety capacity at a local level.

As part of the OPP, the community boat program was funded as a four-year pilot program. In Budget 2021, the program received a further year of funding to align the program with other OPP initiatives.

Through this extension of the community boat program, the Government of Canada is demonstrating its commitment to marine safety and partnerships with Indigenous communities in a direct and tangible way.

OPP Renewal (responsive)
The Government of Canada is committed to protecting our coasts, to supporting Canada’s marine economy, and to advancing Reconciliation with Indigenous peoples through meaningful partnerships in marine safety.

The OPP was launched, in 2017, as a five-year plan. As we are currently in year five of implementation, OPP partner departments are now exploring options for the next phase of federal oceans programming.

We know to accomplish this work we’ll need the support of Indigenous peoples, stakeholders, coastal communities and others across the country.

(a): Community Boat Program
• Through the Oceans Protection Plan (OPP), the Government of Canada is working in partnership with Indigenous coastal communities to improve marine safety and responsible shipping to protect Canada’s marine environment. As part of this plan, the Canadian Coast Guard (CCG) launched the four-year Indigenous Community Boat Volunteer Pilot Program.
• Under this program, communities are able to build up their on-water search and rescue capacity, and are provided with the necessary funding to purchase boats, as well as the required equipment to do so. To date the Indigenous Community Boat Volunteer Program has provided $6,444,314 directly to 25 Indigenous communities/organizations across the country to buy search and rescue boats and equipment to enhance their ability to participate as members of the Canadian Coast Guard Auxiliary and increase marine safety at a local level.
• Budget 2021 allocated $2.3 million to the program, including $2.05 million in grants and contributions. This is an investment in the safety and prosperity of coastal communities, and that strengthens the capacity of the Canadian Coast Guard Auxiliary.
• The Auxiliary is a national non-profit organization of 4,000 volunteer members with access to 1,100 vessels that boost the Government of Canada’s maritime search and rescue response capacity. CCG funds the Auxiliary through a contribution program that enables the Auxiliary to respond to approximately 25 per cent of maritime calls for assistance each year.
• The one-year extension of the community boat program is the only OPP funding received through Budget 2021.

(b): OPP General
• The Oceans Protection Plan (OPP), announced on November 7, 2016, is a $1.5-billion investment in the protection of Canada’s maritime environment along four main priority areas:
o Creating a world-leading marine safety system;
o Preserving and restoring marine ecosystems;
o Strengthening partnerships with Indigenous communities; and,
o Investing in oil spill response methods.
• Fisheries and Oceans Canada and the Canadian Coast Guard are responsible for $1.14 billion of the total investment in OPP.
• OPP is developing skills and creating enduring partnerships with Indigenous and coastal communities; investing to procure important equipment for marine safety and clean-up; and, applying scientific evidence, innovative technologies, and reflecting Indigenous knowledge to make our oceans safer, cleaner, and healthier.
• The OPP launched in 2017, and follows a five-year implementation cycle. As we are currently in year five of the program, close consideration is being paid to results achieved, lessons learned, and to new programming opportunities to inform our path forward.
• Some key OPP accomplishments to date are:

National
• Coastal Restoration Fund allocated funding to 64 projects on all three coasts worth over $70 million supporting redevelopment of aquatic habitats and engaging Indigenous and community groups.
• Modernized 134 remote Marine Communications and Traffic Services (MCTS) sites – by providing better information on marine traffic to Coast Guard and partners, including Indigenous and Coastal communities.
• Announced $26.6 million in funding to help better understand noise pressures on marine mammals (such as the Southern Resident Killer Whale; the North Atlantic Right Whale, and the St. Lawrence Estuary Beluga).
• The Nairobi Convention has been implemented under the Vessels of Concern Initiative.

Western
• The Reconciliation Framework Agreement for Bioregional Oceans Management and Protection in BC with 14 First Nations is already improving the governance, management, and protection of oceans in the Pacific North Coast, including marine ecosystems, marine resources and marine use activities.
• Enhanced emergency response capacity for improved marine safety:
o Two leased Emergency Offshore Towing Vessels in BC.
o A new search and rescue station in Victoria, BC has opened in May 2021, and in Tahsis and Hartley Bay, BC in 2020.
Arctic
• Modern Hydrography and Charting in critical areas, such as the Arctic Northwest Passage, for improved navigation.
• The first Inshore Rescue Boat Station in the Arctic, in Rankin Inlet, NU – Crewed entirely by Inuit University students.
• Announced close to $1 million in funding for four Arctic Indigenous communities (Gjoa Haven, Cambridge Bay and Rankin Inlet, NU, and Ulukhaktok, NT) to buy Search And Rescue capable boats and related equipment.
• By increasing the presence of Coast Guard icebreakers in the North during the Arctic season, the OPP is expanding CCG’s capacity to facilitate, and safeguard, community resupply; to provide navigational assistance; and to provide communications/emergency support services in the region as needed.
Eastern
• Strengthening our search & rescue coordination and response capacity, and providing economic benefits in the region.
• Re-opened the Maritime Rescue Sub-Centre in St. John’s.
• Opened a new Lifeboat station in St. Anthony operational 24/7 from May to December, NL.
• Interim Search and Rescue stations are now open in Old Perlican and Twillingate, NL.

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