Environment Canada | Research & Encyclopedia Articles

Environment Canada is the agency with overall responsibility for the development and implementation of policies related to environmental protection, monitoring, and research within the government of Canada. Parts of this mandate are shared with other federal agencies, including those responsible for agriculture, forestry, fisheries, and nonrenewable resources such as minerals. Environment Canada also works with the environment-related agencies of Canada's 10 provincial and two territorial governments through such groups as the Canadian Council of Ministers of the Environment.

The head of Environment Canada is a minister of the federal cabinet, who is "responsible for policies and actions to preserve and enhance the quality of the environment for the benefit of present and future generations of Canadians."

In 1990, following a lengthy and extensive consultation process organized by Environment Canada, the Government of Canada released its Canada's Green Plan for a Healthy Environment, which details the broader goals, as well as many specific objectives, to be pursued towards achieving a state of ecologically sustainable economic development in Canada. The first and most general of the national objectives under the Green Plan is to "secure for current and future generations a safe and healthy environment, and a sound and prosperous economy."

The Green Plan is intended to set a broad environmental framework for all government activities and objectives, including the development of policies. The government of Canada has specifically committed to working toward the following priority objectives: (1) clean air, water, and land; (2) sustainable development of renewable resources; (3) protection of special places and species; (4) preserving the integrity of northern Canada; (5) global environmental security; (6) environmentally responsible decision making at all levels of society; and (7) minimizing the effects of Environmental emergencies. Environment Canada will play the lead role in implementing the vision of the Green Plan and in coordinating the activities of the various agencies of the government of Canada.

In order to be able to integrate the dual challenges of a new environmental agenda (set by the expectations of Canadians in general and the federal government in particular) and the need to continue to deliver traditional programs, Environment Canada is moving from a three-program to a one-program administrative structure. Under that single program, six activities are coordinated: (1) the Atmospheric Environment Service activity, through which information is provided and research conducted on weather, climate, oceanic conditions, and air quality; (2) the Conservation and Protection Service activity, which focuses on special species and places, global environmental integrity, the integrity of Canadian ecosystems, environmental emergencies, and ecological and economic interdependence; (3) the Canadian Parks Service activity, concentrating on the ecological and cultural integrity of special places, as well as on environmental and cultural citizenship; (4) the Corporate Environmental Affairs activity, dealing with environmentally responsible decision making and ecosystem-science leadership; (5) the State of the Environment Reporting activity, through which credible and comprehensive environmental information, linked with socio-economic considerations, is provided to Canadians; and (6) the Administration activity, covering corporate management and services.

Environment; Future Generations

Canada's Green Plan for a Healthy Environment. Ottawa: Government of Canada, 1990.

Environment Canada. Annual Report, 1988-1990. Ottawa: Government of Canada, 1990.

This is the complete article, containing 515 words (approx. 2 pages at 300 words per page).