Near term priority files: Parks Canada

Parks Canada Agency

Mandate

Parks Canada’s mandate is to protect and present nationally significant examples of Canada’s natural and cultural heritage and foster public understanding, appreciation and enjoyment in ways that ensure their ecological and commemorative integrity for present and future generations.

Operating context, major challenges and pressures

Parks Canada is the largest land steward in the country, managing over 450,000 km² of lands and waters across Canada. It has year round operations in each province and territory with responsibility for the management and administration of 47 national parks, 5 national marine conservation areas, Rouge National Urban Park, and 171 national historic sites (including nine heritage canals). The Agency works closely with over 300 Indigenous communities and has twenty-nine cooperative agreements with Indigenous groups to manage national heritage places.

Welcoming on average 25 million visitors per year, Parks Canada operates in a competitive environment and is the country’s largest tourism provider. Its tourism infrastructure and offers are pivotal to hundreds of communities across the country – many of which are in economically disadvantaged and remote locations – by stimulating local economies and providing jobs.

Parks Canada is a federal essential service provider given its public safety responsibilities. This includes the management of some of the highest risk sections of the Trans-Canada highway, avalanche control, search and rescue, fire management, as well as an armed enforcement branch. Parks Canada also provides municipal services in five townsites including drinking water, sewage treatment, road maintenance, snow removal and garbage collection and disposal.

The Agency is the second largest asset custodian in the federal government with an extremely diverse portfolio valued at $25.5 billion. In addition to historic sites and national parks this portfolio includes major highways and waterways systems, including more than 200 dams.

Climate change and other environmental forces challenge the integrity of ecosystems and the condition of Parks Canada’s cultural resources and contemporary assets. Shoreline erosion at national parks and historic sites, the arrival of invasive species in national parks, and changing species communities and vegetation patterns are all examples of the direct and indirect effects of climate change. The increasing severity and frequency of disturbances such as storms, floods, avalanches, and the incidence of severe wildfires also impact Parks Canada infrastructure, such as highways and bridges.

The Agency also plays a key role in supporting the attainment of Canada’s domestic and international commitments. For example, the Aichi Biodiversity Target 11 calls for the conservation of at least 17% terrestrial and inland water and 10% coastal and marine areas by 2020 which the Agency contributes to through the establishment of parks and national marine conservation areas.