Environment committee  Engaging new Canadians, old Canadians, and re-engaging children of cultures that have lost that connection to the environment is about exposure. It's about taking kids out to see the beautiful country they live in, and the wildlife and plants that are part of it. I drag my own children away from their PlayStation and their Wii, sometimes under duress.

Environment committee  You want specific recommendations about Bill C-38, or recommendations for the plan in light of the changes. Things like the changes to the Fisheries Act are going to make it very difficult for us to take a broad-based approach to conservation of species. We're going to find we're in a long-term debate about this stream being important for this reason and not that stream, so this stream doesn't matter anymore and we can do what we want.

Environment committee  That's an excellent question. If I could air the dirty laundry of the Wildlife Conservation Society a bit, this is something we struggle with all the time. Do we take the global approach, or do we pick a handful of species and focus on those species? This is something we struggle with.

Environment committee  Sure. To be fair, there is a great role for industry and for the non-governmental side of things to fund science. I mean, that fundamentally is what WCS Canada is—a scientific organization. We fund through private funds, through grants, through other different mechanisms, not strictly through public funding.

Environment committee  Sure, and I appreciate that, thank you. We're all conservationists because at some point in our childhood, we connected with nature. We had an experience that meant something to us, where we started to say that the environment or wildlife or fish or plants meant something to us.

Environment committee  I'll come back to the comment about science, and from my perspective, an investment in science and stressing the importance of science-based conservation decisions. I will use an example from epidemiology, my discipline. John Snow didn't know why he was breaking the handle off the water pump when he stopped the London cholera outbreak in 1854, but he had enough knowledge and information to understand that if he broke the handle, he would stop the cholera outbreak.

Environment committee  Thank you for that question. I think addressing climate change has to come on two fronts. One is mitigation, trying to slow down the process of climate change through a control of carbon. I think there should be strong language, because we really don't know what that road will look like down the way.

Environment committee  Sure. Before I answer, within WCS Canada we all have different areas of expertise. My particular expertise is global health. I work on wildlife health projects around the world. I'm here representing WCS Canada so I can give you an answer, but I'm not necessarily going to give you the best answer that another scientist with WCS Canada would be able to provide, because my work is primarily on other things beyond conservation species in Canada.

Environment committee  Of course. Fair enough, Mr. Chair. WCS Canada presents three fundamental areas of focus for Canada's national conservation plan: conservation beyond protected areas, conservation in protected area establishment and management, and species conservation. In our opinion, a national conservation strategy must integrate all three elements, and each must be supported with investment in scientific and aboriginal traditional knowledge systems.

Environment committee  Thank you, Mr. Chairman and committee members, for inviting us here today to speak before you and to discuss the development of a national conservation plan for Canada. My name is Damien Joly. I'm a wildlife epidemiologist with Wildlife Conservation Society Canada. WCS Canada was founded in 2004 as a Canadian non-governmental organization.