2018 Fall Reports of the Commissioner of the Environment and Sustainable Development to the Parliament of Canada – The Commissioner of the Environment and Sustainable Development releases Fall Reports

Ottawa, 2 October 2018—In her Fall reports tabled today in Parliament, Commissioner of the Environment and Sustainable Development Julie Gelfand provides the findings of 3 audits, along with her Commissioner’s Perspective and the annual report on environmental petitions. The audits focused on toxic substances, protecting marine mammals, and departmental progress in implementing sustainable development strategies.

The audit on toxic substances found that Health Canada and Environment and Climate Change Canada had not assessed whether their action plans were reaching their overall objectives, which means that the government doesn’t know how well it is reaching its goal of protecting Canadians from the risks of toxic substances. The government has developed 39 regulations to control these risks, but many were subject to few or no inspections.

On the protection of marine mammals, such as whales, dolphins and seals from threats posed by vessels and commercial fishing, the audit found that Fisheries and Oceans Canada, in collaboration with 3 other federal departments, was very slow to take action to reduce threats. It wasn’t until 2017 that the departments took actions to protect 3 whale species, for example, by closing certain fisheries and setting speed limits for ships in some areas.

“The measures recently put in place have been reactive, limited and late. The clock could well be running out for certain species, such as the West coast’s Southern Resident Killer Whale”, stated Ms. Gelfand. “There needs to be continued action from the departments to manage threats from commercial fishing and vessels for all marine mammals.”

The third audit re-examined whether 26 federal organizations took steps to ensure that the government’s decisions reflected environmental considerations. It showed marked progress over previous years. With strategic environmental assessments carried out for more than 90% of the policy, plan, and program proposals submitted to Cabinet.

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The Commissioner of the Environment and Sustainable Development will hold a news conference at the National Press Theatre in Ottawa at 11:00 am (eastern timeET), and be available for media interviews after 2:00 pm (ET). Journalists outside the National Capital Region can take part in the news conference via teleconference (call 1-866-206-0153 or 613-954-9003 and use access code 8123338#).

The 2018 Fall Reports of the Commissioner of the Environment and Sustainable Development are available on the Office of the Auditor General of Canada Web site.

Please visit our Media Room for more information.

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