section2-01

Conserve Heritage Resources

Management Plans

National Parks: The Canada National Parks Act requires that all national parks have a management plan approved by the Minister and tabled in Parliament within five years of park establishment, and that the plan be reviewed every five years.

The management planning process for national parks starts with the preparation of a State of the Park Report (SOPR) that reports on the state of ecological integrity in the park. Its findings are a key consideration in evaluating the effectiveness of the park’s current management plan, and the magnitude of adjustments that may be required. Preparation of the SOPR is a relatively new policy requirement of Parks Canada.

This is followed by the preparation of a scoping document that identifies the main issues to be addressed and the proposed time frame to complete the plan. Once the CEO of Parks Canada approves the scoping document, formal management planning is launched. Public consultations include issue identification, the generation of solutions and reviewing of draft plans. Once a plan is completed, it is submitted to the Minister for approval, on the recommendation of the CEO and, in some cases, the recommendation of other organizations. The process typically takes one to two years to complete, depending on the complexity of the issues involved.

As of March 2007, 33 of the 42 national parks had approved management plans. Of the nine parks without such plans, three currently operate under interim management guidelines, and six are engaged in a planning process. Twenty-one of 33 approved plans are overdue for the five-year revision. Thirteen national parks are expected to complete their revised management plans by March 31, 2008 leaving eight revisions to be completed. Parks Canada expects that these plans will be complete by March 2010.

National Marine Conservation Areas: The management planning process for national marine conservation areas is similar to that of the national parks with two exceptions. First, the Canada National Marine Conservation Areas Act requires that an interim management plan be prepared before a national marine conservation area can be formally established under the Act. Second, because national marine conservation areas are managed in collaboration with the Department of Fisheries and Oceans and Transport Canada, any provisions of a national marine conservation area management plan that deal with fisheries management must be agreed to by the Minister of Fisheries and Oceans.

The management plan for Fathom Five National Marine Park of Canada, in Ontario, was approved, and tabled in Parliament in 1998. The review of the plan originally scheduled for completion in January 2005 has been rescheduled for March 2008. The management plan for Quebec’s Saguenay–St. Lawrence Marine Park, was tabled in Parliament in March 2000. The governing legislation originally called for a review of the plan during 2004-2005 but this has been postponed to June 2008.

The Agency is reporting on Fathom Five National Marine Park and Saguenay-St-Lawrence Marine Park as if they were formally proclaimed national marine conservation areas.

National Historic Sites: The Parks Canada Agency Act sets out the requirement for national historic sites to prepare management plans and to review and update these plans every five years. Parks Canada submits plans for national historic sites it administers to the Minister of the Environment and, once approved, the plans are tabled in Parliament.
                           
The process begins with the preparation of a Commemorative Integrity Statement (CIS) that identifies where the site’s values lie, what conditions must be met for its values and resources to be unimpaired, and what constitutes effective communication of the reasons for its national historic significance. As with National Parks and NMCAs, this is followed by preparation of a scoping document, consultations, and development and approval of a formal plan.

In 2005-2006 approval processes were simplified to focus on the key requirements of a management plan and improve the approval rate. The timing of these changes did not come soon enough for Parks Canada to meet its target to have approved plans in place for all its sites by December 2006. As such, the target was updated in 2006-2007, from completion by December 2006 to March 2008.

No management plans for national historic sites administered by Parks Canada were approved by the Minister in 2006-2007. However, as of March 2007, management plans for 131 (87%) of the 151 national historic sites due in 2006-2007 were provided to the Minister. A remaining 20 national historic sites (13%) do not yet have finalized management plans, including 17 in Atlantic Canada due to questions concerning consultation requirements with Aboriginal communities in Nova Scotia and New Brunswick.

Parks Canada will not unilaterally impose a management plan.

< Previous Page  |  Table of Contents  | Next Page  >