Canada’s Oceans Now: Federal Government Releases a Status Update on Canada’s Arctic Ocean

April 28, 2020

Author

Anna Huschka

My name is Anna (she/her), and I am a white settler located on the lands of the Williams Treaty First Nations – the Alderville First Nations, Beausoleil First Nation, Chippewas of Georgina Island, Chippewas of Rama, Curve Lake First Nation, Hiawatha First Nation, and Mississaugas of Scugog Island. I do not intend to speak on behalf of any communities I am not a part of. I hope to leverage my position of privilege as a cisgender white woman to amplify the efforts and voices of those doing so much work towards climate justice in their communities across the country. I want to be a part of challenging the Euro-settler-centric and Western values that currently shape climate policies, to counteract colonial and systemic barriers, ensuring that the concerns, exposures, and knowledges of diverse communities are adequately incorporated into environmental policies and projects. As a part of the Shake Up Your Community project, I hope to help support climate work at all scales and showcase the community-based efforts that have developed out of necessity of addressing the issues of climate justice. As a biology major and politics minor, my passion for environmental politics developed from a sense of urgency and anger about the lack of action by decision-makers to adequately address the climate crisis. I aim to hold decision-makers accountable to climate commitments as well as diversify what is currently Canada’s political climate by identifying gaps in policies and projects by responding to calls for public feedback. Through the Righting History Project, particularly Practicing Rest, Recovery, Resistance: An Interactive Dreaming Journal, I hope to help youth see that their existence, and any contributions they make to the climate movement as a whole, regardless the scale, are beautiful acts of resistance to our colonial, capitalistic society.

A report released in 2012 outlined the state of Canada’s oceans in respect to effects caused by environmental implications (1). Notably, a persistent threat to ocean ecosystems is acidification, where acidity is increased in response to the breakdown of carbon dioxide in the oceans, forming carbonic acid (2). The increasing levels of carbon dioxide in the atmosphere are expected to further impact aquatic ecosystems, thus, the Government of Canada has decided to closely monitor the general state and acidity of oceans (2).

In order to gain a better understanding of all of Canada’s oceans, the Government of Canada has begun to release yearly status reports, each focused on a different ocean with the most recent report detailing the status of the Arctic Ocean (3). The status reports are a result of a collaboration amongst Environment and Climate Change Canada, the Government of Nunavut, Fisheries and Oceans Canada, Inuit communities, and the Fisheries Joint Management Committee, ultimately producing Canada’s Oceans Now: Arctic Ecosystems, 2019 (3). The major areas of focus in Canada’s Oceans Now: Arctic Ecosystems (2019) include changes to sea ice and habitats (4). The full report for the Arctic Ocean can be accessed here. This report is ultimately comprised of scientific findings and Inuit knowledge in order to fully capture the complexity of changes occurring in the Arctic Ocean’s ecosystems (4).
Overall, the Government of Canada has recently shifted focus into research regarding environmental implications of Canadian oceans. These status reports will help Canadians assess the environmental changes occurring in the Arctic Ocean, and the effectiveness of current action and political measures taken to protect the oceans is sufficient.

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AuthorMy name is Anna (she/her), and I am a white settler located on the lands of the Williams Treaty First Nations - the Alderville First Nations, Beausoleil First Nation, Chippewas of Georgina Island, Chippewas of Rama, Curve Lake First Nation, Hiawatha First...