Question Period Note: The Coastal Restoration Fund (CRF)

The Coastal Restoration Fund (CRF)

Aquatic ecosystems are critical components of the global environment, as essential contributors to biodiversity and ecological productivity, and their protection is core to my department’s mandate.

Through the Coastal Restoration Fund, a
$75 million contribution program under Canada’s Oceans Protection Plan, my department has contributed to the: development and implementation of coastal restoration plans; identification of restoration priorities; implementation of projects; and addressing threats to marine species located on all three of Canada’s coasts.

Budget 2022 includes important renewals of funding for the Oceans Protection Plan, including investments in coastal restoration efforts.

If pressed
The Fund sunset on March 31, 2022, however given the success of the Fund, in December 2021, I was mandated to continue to protect and restore our oceans and coasts by renewing and expanding this program.

• The Coastal Restoration Fund (CRF) is a $75 million contribution program launched in 2017 as part of the Government of Canada’s broader Oceans Protection Plan (OPP). The program facilitates collaborations that contribute to the development and implementation of coastal restoration plans, identification of restoration priorities, implementation of projects, and addresses threats to marine species located on Canada’s coasts.
• The CRF focuses on investments in coastal as well as upstream inland communities to support restoration efforts that protect and restore Canada’s coastal areas and address threats to marine species, including marine mammals (e.g., Southern Resident Killer Whales). The CRF is one of the OPP’s foremost success stories; all available OPP funding allocated to the CRF was expended in the first 2.5 years of its five-year mandate in support of more than 60 projects on all coasts (including in the area of the Salish Sea and other locations near the Trans Mountain Pipeline Expansion).
• Following the sunset of the program on March 31, 2022, and receipt of the program’s final reports it is anticipated that the CRF will have supported local economic investment through the creation of over 900 jobs (full and part-time, as well as seasonal positions), facilitated over 1300 partnerships (including approximately 415 Indigenous partnerships), provided training for over 1000 people, and leveraged over $19 million in additional support from other sources. The program also places a priority on supporting Indigenous led projects, as is evidenced by 37 per cent of all CRF projects being led by Indigenous organizations, and almost 100 per cent of projects involving Indigenous groups in the planning, development, and implementation of its projects.
• The CRF also underwent an evaluation in FY 2019-20 in accordance with the Treasury Board’s Policy on Results (2016) and requirements of the Financial Administration Act (https://www.dfo-mpo.gc.ca/ae-ve/evaluations/20-21/crf-frc-summary-eng.html). The result of the evaluation noted the success of the program as well as identified lessons learned for future consideration.
• The 2021 Speech from the Throne and recent ministerial mandate letter provided Fisheries and Oceans Canada with a clear directive to renew and expand the CRF, to invest in efforts to create blue carbon (e.g., tidal wetlands, eelgrass beds, and riparian habitats that can absorb and store carbon), and to create opportunities for freshwater and oceans sectors and coastal communities through a Blue Economy Strategy.
• The Department will consider the recommendations from the FY 2019-20 evaluation, as well as the outcomes of the program’s 2020 national workshop, when developing options for the renewal and expansion of the CRF.
• In Budget 2022, an additional $2.0 billion over nine years was proposed that includes the renewal of important funding for DFO related to investments in coastal restoration efforts. This builds on ongoing funding announced in 2016, and will result in an overall increase in federal funding for oceans protection over the next five years.

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