Parks Canada

On behalf of the people of Canada, the Parks Canada Agency protects and presents nationally significant examples of Canada's natural and cultural heritage and fosters public understanding, appreciation and enjoyment in ways that ensure their ecological and commemorative integrity for present and future generations. This mandate is carried out on Parks Canada Heritage Areas that include National Parks of Canada, National Historic Sites of Canada and National Marine Conservation Areas of Canada. The mandate integrates protection of natural and cultural resources, visitor experience and public education.

National parks and national marine conservation areas are representative examples of Canada’s terrestrial and marine regions. They offer to Canadians a variety of recreational activities and learning experiences as well as a unique opportunity to personally connect with their land. Each national historic site tells its own story and contributes to our understanding of Canada as a whole. They are special places where visitors can learn about the men and women who contributed to shaping Canada as we know it today and where they can experience Canada’s history.
There are more than 21 million visits annually to the heritage places administered by Parks Canada. The Agency works with more than 460 communities country-wide.

System of National Parks

Canada's national parks system began in 1885 when the federal government reserved 26 km² around the hot mineral springs near what is now the town of Banff. Today, there are a total of 42 national parks covering over 300,000 km² of land. The establishment of new national parks is guided by the National Parks System Plan.

National parks protect the habitats, wildlife and ecosystem diversity representative of, and sometime unique to their natural regions. As a first priority, Parks Canada manages these special places to ensure that they remain healthy and whole. The Canada National Parks Act states that “Maintenance or restoration of ecological integrity, through the protection of natural resources and natural processes shall be the first priority of the Minister when considering all aspects of the management of parks”. These heritage places range from mountains and plains, to boreal forests and tundra, to lakes and glaciers, and much more. They conserve and protect geologic splendours, historic sites and structures, recreational spaces in and around large urban areas, lakes and seashores, long-distance trails, free-flowing rivers, and places that chronicle the nation’s social history. However, these areas are under tremendous pressure from stresses that originate from inside and outside parks boundaries, and cocerted effort is required to protect and conserve them.

System of National Historic Sites

The National Historic Sites program includes persons, places and events declared to be of national historic significance by the Minister responsible for Parks Canada. The Minister acts on advice received from the Historic Sites and Monuments Board of Canada through a process managed by Parks Canada. The current National Historic Sites System plan, produced in 2000, organizes Canadian history into five themes: Peopling the Land, Developing Economies, Governing Canada, Expressing Intellectual and Cultural Life, and Building Social and Community Life. The system plan also identifies, as strategic priorities, commemoration of aspects of the history of Aboriginal people, women and ethnocultural communities to address the overall underrepresentation of these areas across the system of designations.

As of March 31, 2009, the system includes 949 National Historic Sites across the country, 633 National Historic Persons and 407 National Historic Events. At the 166 National Historic Sites that are administered by Parks Canada, visitors are invited to enjoy memorable experiences in the hope that they will form personal connections with these places in addition to an appreciation of that aspect of Canada’s history. Parks Canada also manages National Historic Sites to ensure their commemorative integrity, so that their cultural resources and associated values are not under physical threat, visitors understand the reasons for the site’s designation, and the values of the site are respected in all decisions and actions through the exercise of established cultural resource management principles and practices.

System of National Marine Conservation Areas

In 1986, the National Marine Conservation Areas (NMCA) program was established to protect and conserve a network of areas representative of Canada's marine environments. A system plan divides Canada's three oceans and Great Lakes into 29 marine natural regions. The goal of the National Marine Conservation Areas System Plan is to establish an NMCA to represent each marine region. The Canada National Marine Conservation Areas Act was passed in 2002 providing for the establishment, protection, conservation, management and use in an ecologically sustainable manner of national marine conservation areas.

There are two operating sites: Saguenay-St. Lawrence Marine Park in the St. Lawrence River estuary, and Fathom Five in Georgian Bay, Ontario. An agreement to establish Lake Superior National Marine Conservation Area was  signed in 2007, and work is now underway to develop an interim management plan that will guide operations, including research priorities, until a full management plan is in place. Elsewhere, progress toward the establishment of new NMCAs in the waters around Gwaii Haanas National Park Reserve and in the Southern Strait of Georgia (both in British Columbia) is at an advanced stage, and a study of the feasibility of establishing a NMCA   in Lancaster Sound, Nunavut is imminent. Parks Canada is working with Fisheries and Oceans Canada and Environment Canada to advance the objectives of Canada’s Federal Marine Protected Areas Strategy, which calls for increased collaboration in designing and managing a national marine protected areas network, drawing on science-based network principles.

Parks Canada Science Needs

As part of fulfilling Parks Canada’s mandate, the Agency promotes research that is credible, timely, meaningful, usable and relevant to the various organizational and operational needs. The information generated by researchers is used to make policy, management and opretational decisions in areas such as park establishment or expansion, maintenance or improvement of ecological integrity of national parks and sustainability of marine conservation areas, maintenance or improvement of the commemorative integrity of national historic sites, and facilitating visitor experiences that provide learning opportunities, satisfaction and personal connection. Research information is required in the areas of biology, ecology, geology, geography, terrain science, oceanography, climatology, hydrology, soil science, social science, archaeology, anthropology and traditional knowledge, among others.

The Agency has developed an online research support system that allows research applications to be submitted and processed on-line. The Internet-based system is supported by a comprehensive information package consisting of a researcher’s guide, a list of research coordinators for each heritage area, frequently asked questions, an online researcher reporting system, a feedback mechanism, listings of national park research priorities and other support tools.  The research website is available at  www.pc.gc.ca/apps/rps/.

Contact
Dr. Stephen Woodley
Chief, Ecosystem Scientist
Parks Canada Agency
25 Eddy Street, 4th Floor
Gatineau, Quebec
K1A 0M5
Tel.: 819-994-2446
E-mail: stephen.woodley@pc.gc.ca