Nature vs. bulldozers: The environment minister's balancing act at UN nature summit
Canada is showing up at this year's international nature summit in Armenia with pledges to protect swaths of land bigger than most countries. But it's also facing criticism for advancing major projects that put those protections in jeopardy.
Julie Dabrusin heads to COP17 in Armenia looking for ways for Canada to have 'leadership role'
David Thurton · CBC News
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Canada is showing up at this year's international nature summit in Armenia with pledges to protect swaths of land bigger than most countries. But it's also facing criticism for advancing major projects that put those protections in jeopardy.
Environment and Climate Change Minister Julie Dabrusin spoke to CBC News about the work she hopes to advance in Yerevan and responded to critics who say the government's actions on the nature file are "incoherent."
Dabrusin is heading to COP17, the United Nations biodiversity conference, on Saturday.
"Canada is the second-largest country in the world. We have the longest coastline in the world. So whatever we do has a real global impact," said Dabrusin before departing to Armenia.
She said international environmental conferences are "real moments" for Canada to have a "leadership role" in "pushing the world" to protect nature and reduce global emissions.
The environment minister attends COP17 on the heels of making a series of announcements to conserve lands and waters.
In October, Dabrusin announced that Canada is conserving an area of forest and peatlands near Kapuskasing, Ont., that's 1.3 times the size of Toronto.
In 2025, the minister said Ottawa would support the conservation of an area of land that's the size of Japan. As part of the initiative Northwest Territories: Our Land for the Future, the Canadian government is funding one of the world's largest Indigenous-led projects, conserving 380,000 square kilometres of land and water.
Policy 'incoherence': Greenpeace
But Dabrusin's attendance at COP17 comes as the Carney government receives sustained criticism for changes it's making to Canada's environmental laws.
"I think the big headline specifically for Canada is policy incoherence," said Salomé Sané, the nature and biodiversity campaigner for Greenpeace Canada.
The Building Canada Strong Act, or Bill C-39, is making its way through the House of Commons. The omnibus bill is proposing to amend several pieces of environmental legislation in order to fast-track pipelines, power lines, mines and other projects that fall under federal jurisdiction.
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"We have the same federal government pushing for a very destructive bill under C-39 that will allow development projects to be built by bypassing, amongst other things, environmental regulations," Sané said.
"So our question to the government is, which is it? Are we protecting nature or are we destroying nature? Because going to COP to talk about nature protection and not defending nature at home will not allow us to deliver nature recovery."
Debrusin responded to that criticism noting the government didn't move forward with some of the amendments it was contemplating due to pushback. She added the bill focuses on how projects get assessed, not weakening environmental standards.
"There's nothing in the policies we're putting forward that reduces our environmental standards," Dabrusin said.
Canada co-hosted with China the UN biodiversity conference in 2022. Countries signed the Kunming-Montreal Global Biodiversity Framework, which set a target of the world conserving 30 per cent of lands and waters by 2030.
Since setting those targets, global progress has been slow according to UN Secretary General António Guterres.
"Even if current national commitments are met, only 26 per cent of terrestrial, and 12 per cent of marine ecosystems would be protected by 2030. That is well short of the promise made in Montreal," Guterres said in the Armenian capital last week.
ABOUT THE AUTHOR
David Thurton is a senior reporter in CBC's Parliamentary Bureau. He covers daily politics in the nation’s capital and specializes in environment and energy policy. Born in Canada but raised in Trinidad and Tobago, he’s moved around more times than he can count. He’s worked for CBC in several provinces and territories, including Alberta and the Northwest Territories. He can be reached at david.thurton@cbc.ca
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