Question Period Note: National Urban Parks and Bill C-248

National Urban Parks and Bill C-248

• The Government of Canada is committed to conserving 25 percent of Canada’s lands and waters by 2025 and 30 percent of each by 2030.

• In August 2021, the Government of Canada announced the National Urban Parks program.

• Under the National Urban Parks Policy, Canada will commit to conserve nature, connect people with nature, and advance reconciliation with Indigenous peoples. The policy will be finalized in early 2024.

• Seven sites are being considered for designation. Parks Canada has made significant progress and expects to designate up to six national urban parks by 2025, including one in Windsor, Ontario.

• Bill C-248 is not the right approach to create a national urban park. Let’s support Parks Canada in doing what it does best, by establishing a national urban park in Windsor with all partners at the table.

National Urban Parks Program
• Budget 2021 funded the creation of a network of up to six national urban parks by 2025. The December 2021 Mandate Letter includes a commitment to expand the program to 15 national urban parks by 2030.

• Parks Canada’s approach to creating national urban parks is, by nature, collaborative. Each national urban park will have its own governance model that reflects the local context and that is co-developed with partners, with special emphasis on collaboration with Indigenous partners. Under the National Urban Parks Policy, each national urban park must meet the three core objectives of conserving nature, connecting people with nature, and advancing reconciliation with Indigenous peoples.

Bill C-248
• On February 9, 2022, the Member of Parliament for Windsor West presented Bill C-248: An Act to Amend the Canada National Parks Act (Ojibway National Urban Park of Canada). The Bill seeks to create a national urban park in Windsor by adding a series of coordinates under Part 5, Schedule 1 of the Canada National Parks Act (CNPA).

• Bill C-248 conflicts with the Parks Canada-led process, which would lead to the designation of a national urban park in Windsor under the National Urban Parks Policy.

• The Bill has progressed through the Second Reading and the Committee stage and is expected to reach the Report stage in early February.

• When the Bill was with the Standing Committee on Environment and Sustainable Development (ENVI), Parks Canada officials underscored how passing this Bill will make it incredibly challenging to manage and run the park.

• The Parks Canada study area for a future park is significantly larger than that of the Bill and would enable better ecological connectivity than the coordinates outlined in the Bill.

• Parks Canada has also learned that there are 10 confirmed and seven potential private lands within the coordinates of the Bill. This could result in private landowners challenging the Bill and seeking compensation for damages from the federal Crown

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