Collaborating to protect the Great Lakes

Parks Canada's report on conservation from 2018 to 2023

Report section

Looking to the future

Location

Bruce Peninsula National Park, Georgian Bay Islands National Park, Fathom Five National Marine Park, Lake Superior National Marine Conservation Area, Point Pelee National Park, Pukaskwa National Park, Rideau Canal National Historic Site, Rouge National Urban Park, Thousand Islands National Park, and Trent-Severn Waterway National Historic Site in Ontario

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Parks Canada is one of over 80 agencies and departments committed to achieving the ambitious and complex goals of the Great Lakes Water Quality Agreement (GLWQA). The GLWQA is a legally-binding treaty between Canada and the U.S. to restore and protect the chemical, physical and biological integrity of the world’s largest freshwater ecosystem, the Laurentian Great Lakes.

Through the GLWQA, Parks Canada is leveraging shared leadership and fostering effective collaboration across an international border. This concerted effort aims to tackle both current challenges and emerging threats to an ecosystem of immense scale.

Project highlights

• Parks Canada administers approximately 12% of Canada’s Great Lakes waters and 10% of Canada’s Great Lakes coast
• Parks Canada participates in binational Lake Partnerships on all four lakes shared with the U.S.
• Effectively achieving conservation outcomes at a lakewide, international scale

Context

The Great Lakes are the world’s largest freshwater ecosystem, with over 30,000km of coastline - this is equivalent to the distance from Ottawa to the South Pole and back! These inland seas are so large they contain 84% of North America’s freshwater supply and are included in the marine protected area aspirations of both the U.S. and Canada. Their ecological diversity includes species found nowhere else in the world.

And yet for all their importance, the Great Lakes are under great stress. Profound ecosystem-level changes have occurred and continue to take place. More than 50% of the original coastal wetlands have been lost, with losses as high as 90% for southwestern Ontario. No other freshwater ecosystem in the world contains as many non-native species. In addition, harmful algal blooms, contaminants, climate change, and food web disruptions continue to challenge conservation efforts.

The Great Lakes Water Quality Agreement

The GLWQA stands as a pivotal platform facilitating Parks Canada’s collaboration with others who are deeply invested in protecting the integrity and health of the Great Lakes region. All of Ontario’s national parks, national marine conservation areas, historic waterways, and Rouge National Urban Park are anchored on the Great Lakes. Through participation in the Agreement, Parks Canada demonstrates that these protected areas are essential cornerstones for biodiversity conservation, provide a natural solution to climate change, and function as hubs for research, monitoring, learning, engagement and well-being.

Working together

The Great Lakes Executive Committee that implements the GLWQA includes:

• 14 U.S. and 13 Canadian federal departments and agencies, including Parks Canada
• 3 provincial ministries
• 8 state agencies
• 45 Indigenous organisations
• 3 municipal / local governments
• 1 watershed entity
• 3 Binational Commissions
• 30 NGO Observers

This extensive collaboration is considered as one of the most enduring and successful environmental agreements in the world.

Parks Canada's contribution

Parks Canada contributes to lakewide action and management planning, and cooperative science and monitoring initiatives, and is specifically leading efforts to build a protected area network and promote awareness to action. It’s important to recognize that many of the threats facing Parks Canada administered sites, including those associated with habitat loss, climate change, water pollution and invasive species, cannot be solved in isolation by one agency or one nation. The Great Lakes Water Quality Agreement provides the platform for Parks Canada to work collaboratively across lakes and borders, towards more effective conservation at a landscape-scale.

“We cannot understand Parks Canada's place in Ontario without the Great Lakes, and effective engagement and collaboration with the Great Lakes Water Quality Agreement community is essential to meeting our conservation goals.”

—Dr. Scott Parker, Ecosystem Scientist, Parks Canada

Learn more

• Canada-US Great Lakes Water Quality Agreement
• The third Progress Report of the Parties, pursuant to the 2012 Great Lakes Water Quality Agreement
• The Governments of Canada and the United States agree on 2023-2025 Great Lakes Binational Priorities for Science and Action