Policy Update

The Coastal Restoration Funds Project

March 23, 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.

The Government of Canada has committed $1.5 billion to projects covered under the Oceans Protection Plan (1). The Oceans Protection Plan is a comprehensive set of investments towards projects focused on the protection of bodies of water and coastlines across Canada (2). The fund is led by different governmental departments collaboratively due to the variety of projects covered by the plan, including co-operation with Transport Canada, Fisheries and Oceans Canada, Environment Canada, and Natural Resources Canada (2).

An important component of the Oceans Protection Plan is the Coastal Restoration Fund, which offers financial support for projects focused on maintaining and protecting Canada’s coastlines and the species that inhabit them (3). Beginning in May 2017, the Coastal Restoration Fund was given a budget of $75 million to be used over a five-year period (3). Projects that applied for this funding were judged based on a thorough set of criteria, assessing the project’s potential impacts of restoring and maintaining the quality of coastlines and waterways of Canada (4).
There are a variety of ongoing projects funded by the Coastal Restoration Funds, currently located in British Columbia, Nunavut, Northwest Territories, Yukon, Quebec, New Brunswick, Nova Scotia, and Newfoundland and Labrador (5). There are specific areas of priority within different regions, allowing for more focus of specific projects (4). For example, areas of focus in Quebec are the St. Lawrence River and the Gulf of the St. Lawrence, with initiatives focused on protecting the species inhabiting those waterways (4). There is also collaboration with First Nations, Metis, and Inuit communities across Canada for a majority of these projects, including the Kivalliq Inuit Association to assist Arctic char populations in the Kivalliq region (5). Notably, the first stage of the Coastal Restoration Fund involved $47 million being supplied to 32 projects, with all projects involving collaboration with First Nations communities (6).
Overall, the government has committed to protecting the waterways of Canada by funding restorative projects across Canada designed to help protect coastlines and species that inhabit them. To learn more about the approved projects, click here.

References

More Reads Like This

Canada Nature Fund for Aquatic Species at Risk

Canada Nature Fund for Aquatic Species at Risk

May 11, 2024

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...