By Faisal Moola, Director General of the David Suzuki Foundation in Ontario and Northern Canada
In early September, some of Canada’s leading writers, conservationists and scientists, including some from the David Suzuki Foundation, met near Wells Gray Provincial Park two hours north of Kamloops, B.C., to discuss whether it’s time for Canada to enshrine a land ethic in Canadian laws and policies.
The conference, Speak to the Wild, was co-hosted by Thompson Rivers University and the Wells Gray World Heritage Committee. Those attending included notable writers Robert Bringhurst, Sharon Butala, Ted Chamberlin, Lorna Crozier, Trevor Herriot, Patrick Lane, Tim Lilburn, Candace Savage, and former Canadian Poet Laureate John Steffler, as well as ethnobotanist Nancy Turner and philosopher Jan Zwicky.
Participants considered two questions.
The first concerned the possibility of legal reform around the rights of wilderness: Is it time to move Canada’s Constitution toward a formalized land ethic, and if so, what would that look like?
The second question pertained to our personal connection to wild places: How can we strengthen this connection in ourselves and encourage it in others? In particular, what is the role of narrative and the poetic experience in developing a meaningful relationship with wild Canada?
The decision to mount Speak to the Wild in B.C.’s Interior was prompted by the ongoing rapid decline of the mountain caribou, particularly in Wells Gray Provincial Park, which was established 74 years ago specifically to give these animals sanctuary.
Mountain caribou are the world’s most southerly reindeer, inhabiting the high-elevation old-growth “snow forests” of B.C.’s Interior. They survive in winter by foraging on hair lichens that grow on tree branches. Virtually all mountain caribou — 1,400, down from 1,700 five years ago — are resident in British Columbia, so Canada has a global responsibility to protect them.
Destruction and fragmentation of caribou habitat in B.C.’s Interior from clearcut logging, roads and other development have led to precipitous declines in mountain caribou populations. Caribou are especially vulnerable to predators, such as wolves, that are taking advantage of the changed landscape to target the species.
The agenda for the Speak to the Wild Conference is available at www.waysofenlichenment.net/wells/speak/agenda.
Read the original post here: http://www.davidsuzuki.org/blogs/panther-lounge/2013/09/thinkers-writers-conservationists-meet-to-discuss-formalized-land-ethic-for-cana/