2010
Arts and Culture
University of Toronto, Toronto, Ontario $75,000
Dictionary of Old English
The DOE defines the vocabulary of the first six centuries of English from around 600 to 1150 using the technology of the 21st century. It is based on an electronic Corpus of 3 million words comprised of at least one copy of each surviving text in Old English. This includes parchment writings, stone carvings, and inscriptions on metal. More than 60% of the total number of entries to the DOE have been written to date. Editors are currently drafting entries for the letters H, I/Y, L, M and N and assigning spellings to headwords for the letter O. Also published online is a bibliography of Old English texts and Latin sources cited in the Dictionary.
Environment
Canadian Parks and Wilderness Society, Halifax, Nova Scotia $15,000
Advancing Marine Protected Areas for the Bay of Fundy
CPAWS-Nova Scotia will continue to promote key sites in the Bay of Fundy for National Marine Conservation protection from the federal government in support of Parks Canada's commitment to set up a national system of marine protected areas. Once representative marine areas have been identified, extensive local consultations and feasibility studies will help determine the most suitable sites. Digby Neck and Islands are prime candidates for protection, where community engagement and active participation from fishermen groups working with CPAWS is building a robust local community conservation plan. The goal of the community conservation plan is to integrate social and economic values with biodiversity protection and ecological conservation in preparation for potential designation as a marine protected area.
Canary Research Institute for Mining, Environment and Health, Ottawa, Ontario $15,000
Protecting Water Bodies from the Impacts of Mining
The Canary Institute will continue to lead a broad coalition of environmental NGOs in seeking to protect Canadian watersheds, groundwater and aquatic ecosystems from the impacts of mining. The Institute continues to promote responsible mine-waste management as opposed to the convenient use of fish-bearing streams and lakes as tailings impoundment areas. In addition, the Institute supports remote communities in these communities' efforts to be listened to by Federal and Provincial authorities in applying legal protection to water resources. First of a two-year grant.
Conservation Council of New Brunswick, Fredericton, New Brunswick $15,000
Biodiversity - Putting Nature Back in the Equation
In the context of the 2010 International Year of Biodiversity, the CCNB is undertaking a number of initiatives to promote a national dialogue on the need to protect biodiversity and ecosystem services, and how to tackle the growing biodiversity crisis. Biodiversity conservation will be brought front and centre as the overriding objective of fisheries management, forest management, pesticides management, land-use planning, and overall environmental planning and assessment.
Conservation Foundation of Greater Toronto, Toronto, Ontario $30,000
Recovery Planning Program and Strategic Restoration Project
The Ecosystem Recovery Planning Program integrates numerous different data layers and GIS techniques at various scales to help prioritize habitat restoration within the Toronto and Region Conservation Authority's jurisdiction. The program uses both coarse and fine filter analysis not only for locating priority geographic areas but also to identify priority vegetation communities and target species for ecosystem recovery. 2010 will see the analysis used in a number of different restoration plans and projects across the TRCA. Third of a three-year grant.
Great Lakes United, Ottawa, Ontario $20,000
Great Lakes Water Conservation Collaborative
This cross-border collaborative of Canadian and American NGOs seeks to formalize a strong role for reduced water-use at the regional level so that Ontario and US. states on the Great Lakes deliver strong state and provincial conservation plans due December 2010, setting new standards for regional water conservation going forward. Regional strategies will link closely with municipal and public outreach initiatives already underway. Through 2010 Great Lakes United will carefully monitor the implementation of the Annex Agreements, and the Polis Project on Ecological Governance will track how the pumping and treating of water can be reduced along with the high electricity costs and greenhouse gases these produce. First of a two-year grant.
New Brunswick Museum, Saint John, New Brunswick $13,000
Bioblitz 2010: Documenting Biodiversity in the Jacquet River Gorge (2)
The 60 identified Protected Natural Areas on Crown Land in New Brunswick are representative of the province's different ecoregions. Each one requires an environmental management plan to ensure its biodiversity is documented and maintained. Representative specimens gathered in the 2010 Bioblitz will be deposited with the Museum and fully documented. Associated specimen data will be added to Internet databases maintained by the Museum and this, in turn can be fed into broader global biodiversity initiatives. The 2010 Bioblitz will be carried out by approximately 25 volunteer biodiversity specialists who, in the months following will prepare and fully document material found. The Jacquet River Gorge is the largest of New Brunswick's Protected Natural Areas, one of the most remote, and one of the least known. Second of a two-year grant.
Niagara Escarpment Biosphere Reserve, Georgetown, Ontario $25,000
Flowing Waters Information System
The web-based FWIS will provide a common, accessible and reliable means for managing raw data associated with waters flowing into the Great Lakes. The new system will allow for an integrated, simplified and streamlined approach to assessment, and will facilitate prioritization of stewardship activities. As a networked communication tool, the FWIS will allow water management stakeholders to comprehensively monitor basin tributary conditions and contributions to the Great Lakes, and to develop adaptive management strategies for the whole basin.
Sierra Club of Canada Foundation, Ottawa, Ontario $15,000
Completing the Greenbelt, with Protection for the Oak Ridges Moraine Watershed
Sierra Club continues to promote the protection of environmentally sensitive lands in the Oak Ridges Moraine watershed, specifically Durham Region's Carruthers Creek and Duffins Creek watersheds, both of which are subject to significant development pressure. Since these key water resource systems have a functional relationship to the Ontario Greenbelt, their inclusion in the Greenbelt would provide them with permanent protection and help sustain the ecological integrity of the region. Second of a two-year grant.
Sustainability Network, Toronto, Ontario $15,000
Online Learning Opportunities with Web 2.0 Technology
The use of Web 2.0 technology will facilitate bringing people together online, providing learning and networking opportunities and a means to keep connected between gatherings. Sustainability Network will pursue its core mission to strengthen the management skills of environmental leaders using Web 2.0 online workshops, Webinars, an enhanced e-newsletter, and online meeting space for Learning Networks. First of a two-year grant.
The Natural Step, Ottawa, Ontario $25,000
Communications Strategy 2010
To support the launch of a new strategic communications strategy, marketing and outreach, with improved content and functionality for the TNS website, a network exchange, new toolkits and materials, and targeted communications for each of the organization's program areas. The new communications strategy will include stories about emerging leaders and change agents in municipalities, organizations and businesses explaining how change happens, using a systems approach to sustainability to achieve better decisions, upstream solutions and lasting change.
University of Ottawa, Ottawa, Ontario $35,000
Sustainable Prosperity
Sustainable Prosperity's network of academics, business leaders and policy experts provide research and policy options for market-based approaches to transforming Canada's energy systems into driving a strong, competitive, low-carbon, green economy. Developing and promoting pragmatic, economically sound policy and market models will help move Canada in the direction of greener, more sustainable development. Third of a three-year grant.
Wildlife Conservation Society, Toronto, Ontario $15,000
Conservation, Mapping and Public Engagement in the Northern Appalachian/Acadian Ecoregion
WCS continues to promote landscape-scale conservation and ecological connectivity through mapping and GIS capacity, building community stewardship and informed decision-making both locally and regionally in this Northern Appalachian and Acadian Ecoregion. Second of a two-year grant.
2009
Arts and Culture
Royal Conservatory of Music, Toronto, Ontario $55,000
Learning Through the Arts: Literacy, Ecology, and Aboriginal Programming, Northwest Territories
Introductory workshops held in Yellowknife in May 2009 successfully demonstrated the capacity of Learning Through the Arts to deliver core curricula in the classroom using interactive arts-based approaches. This was followed by a full week's LTTA conference in November 2009 to reach a broader number of teachers, artists, and elders. Arts-based learning techniques combined with active ecology and Aboriginal programming provide more experiential and culturally relevant education for Aboriginal students, arriving at a time when the new NWT Dene Kede curriculum has begun to incorporate Aboriginal life practices and values along with traditional art forms. Enhanced learning opportunities and greater student engagement arising from LTTA will help address specific educational needs and mandates in NWT, simultaneously promoting special learner needs, academic success, and Aboriginal cultural values. Second year of a two-year grant.
Royal Ontario Museum, Toronto, Ontario $100,000
Gallery of Biodiversity: Life in Crisis
This grant supports the Great Lakes/Freshwater ecosystem exhibit within the Gallery of Biodiversity: Life in Crisis. The Great Lakes represent the largest freshwater lake system in the world, to which human activity over the past century has introduced nearly 200 species of plants, invertebrates and fish. While many wetlands in the Great Lakes Basin have long been altered or destroyed, those remaining are subject to pollution, invasive species and further degradation from activities related to transportation, urbanization, industrialization and agriculture. While examining cumulative impacts to the functional integrity of the ecosystem, the exhibit will explore what needs to be done to restore balance to this enormous freshwater resource.
University of Toronto, Toronto, Ontario $75,000
Dictionary of Old English
Having linked electronically on the Web in 2007 with the Oxford English Dictionary, as of this year the DOE is linked to the Middle English Dictionary at the University of Michigan. Readers can now explore online the cultural record of the English language over a period of more than 1,300 years. The writing of the DOE is now more than 60% complete, and a new release of the DOE Corpus was published in October 2009.
Environment
Alternatives Journal, Waterloo, Ontario $5,000
Sustainable Communities, Your Town: Sustainable by Design
The Fall 2009 issue allows several authors to characterize essential elements of community sustainability and how to create sustainability plans from a shared vision using integrated planning, effective performance standards, and adaptive management strategies when new problems arise from ever-changing circumstances. Alternatives Journal is housed within the Faculty of Environment at the University of Waterloo.
Conservation Council of New Brunswick, Fredericton, New Brunswick $5,000
Health Watch: Making the Pollution-Health Connection
The Health Watch web pages present vital information on six areas of interest: cancer and the environment, children's health and the environment, community health, environmental justice, health briefs, and publications relating to health and the environment. The Conservation Council continues to work on filling the knowledge gap on community and population health - particularly rates of cancer - by examining the health status of 14 specific communities around the province, where industrial pollutants data reported helps to make the health-pollution connection less ambiguous than at a larger geographic scale. Second year of a two-year grant.
Dalhousie University, Eco-Efficiency Centre, Halifax, Nova Scotia $20,000
Industrial Park Sustainable Water Management
Using Nova Scotia's Burnside Industrial Park as a case study this project examines inefficient and inappropriate water-use in industrial facilities, particularly those located in large industrial parks where cumulative impacts become significant. The project surveys best practices in Canada and other jurisdictions assessing new and innovative water-related technologies, as well as information gathered by umbrella agencies such as the Federation of Canadian Municipalities and the UN Environment Programme. This research is now summarized in "Industrial Best Practices for Water Management" detailing how a company individually or an industrial park collectively can reduce its water footprint. The guidebook can be downloaded from the Eco-Efficiency Centre's website. There are more than 1,000 industrial parks across Canada.
Ducks Unlimited Canada, Toronto, Ontario $10,000
Headwaters Healthy Wetlands
Rural landowners, municipalities and conservation groups are working in partnership to promote wetland conservation and habitat restoration in the headwaters area of five major river systems, most of which flow from the Dundalk Plateau. During the 2009 field season additional wetland demonstration sites were built, with ongoing outreach to landowners and municipalities providing technical support and guidance on wetland identification and protection. This wetland conservation and enhancement promotes local water quantity and quality in Wellington, Dufferin and Grey counties and ultimately benefits water resources in the downstream urban centres of Waterloo, Kitchener, Cambridge and Brantford. Second year of a two-year grant.
Ecology Action Centre, Halifax, Nova Scotia $15,000
An Effective Coastal Strategy for Nova Scotia
The EAC continues to take a leadership role in coordinating discussion, information exchange and policy analysis on coastal issues with other public interest organizations, ENGOs and industry stakeholders. To promote a coherent and unified voice on these issues, EAC has facilitated stakeholder and community group communication with government. Broad public interest and community engagement in a sustainable coastal strategy supports the provincial government as it builds a robust and effective framework for sustainable coastal development.
Green Budget Coalition, Ottawa, Ontario $5,000
The Green Budget Coalition is made up of 21 leading environment and conservation organizations who collaborate in identifying and building support for strategic budgetary and fiscal measures, critical to long-term environmental sustainability. Every year three priorities and six further recommendations are discussed with parliamentarians and federal decision-makers prior to each annual Federal Budget to highlight and prioritize appropriate action for protecting the environment within an economy that does not continue to compromise human and environmental health. Third year of a three-year grant.
New Brunswick Museum, Saint John, New Brunswick $13,000
Documenting Biodiversity in the Jacquet River Gorge
Documenting and collecting representative specimens of fungi, lichens, mosses, vascular plants, insect and other invertebrate groups, amphibians and small mammals, as well as a separate bird survey will together provide vital information on biological diversity in the Jacquet River Gorge, a remote Protected Natural Area (PNA) established in 2003, about which little is known. The 2009 fieldwork formally launches a multi-year program to carry out similar surveys in all of New Brunswick's PNAs so that environmental management plans can be developed for conserving biological diversity. The collections data will be made available to various global biodiversity databases as well as to the New World database, and will otherwise be available to researchers from the Museum's own website. First year of a three-year grant.
Pollution Probe, Toronto, Ontario $20,000
Applying the "net gain" principle to land-use, watershed, and transportation planning in southern Ontario
Working with a core set of sustainability indicators developed by the City of Pickering, Pollution Probe will help inform the design and application of a science-based, environmental "net gain" framework that is effective at the local level, promotes community engagement, and addresses broader regional issues such as air quality, watershed management, transportation and land-use planning. In addition to consulting with experts, this collaborative effort will solicit input from the public, environmental and other stakeholders to help develop a guidance document for measuring, monitoring and assessing environmental "net gain" - documenting what works, how it works and why it should be used. Lessons learned from Central Pickering as a case study will provide policy direction for solving environmental problems and challenges elsewhere in southern Ontario.
Sierra Club of Canada Foundation, Ottawa, Ontario $10,000
The Path Forward for Climate Action in Canada
Climate Action Network continues to facilitate information distribution to the media and to its 50+ member organizations, promoting upward harmonization of climate change policy to engage all the provinces and territories in curbing greenhouse gas emissions. In preparation for the UN Climate Change conference in Copenhagen in December, it developed a strong framework for international action on cutting world carbon emissions. Key inter-provincial summits, and Canada-US. regional climate initiatives were also high priorities through 2009. Second year of a two-year grant.
Sierra Club of Canada Foundation, Ottawa, Ontario $15,000
Completing the Greenbelt, with Protection for the Oak Ridges Moraine Watershed
Sierra Club has worked closely with municipal and provincial officials, with residents, stakeholders and NGOs to expand the Greenbelt so that protection is extended to the entire Oak Ridges Moraine watershed. Municipal proposals to allow for development while saving other lands for the Greenbelt in their own Official Plans will respond to the provincial government's challenge to 'grow the Greenbelt'. This process was launched in August 2008 as part of the government's broader plan to protect the environment and strategically manage growth. Second year of a two-year grant.
Toronto and Region Conservation Authority, Toronto, Ontario $30,000
Recovery Plan and Strategic Restoration Program
With the science of restoration ecology being a relatively new field, during the past year the Recovery Plan has evolved into a more comprehensive framework, designed to operate at a greater number of scales than previously anticipated. In addition, newly developed restoration planning tools such as the Habitat-Species database - a vast database of species and vegetation communities - together with new GIS models in progress allow biologists to predict where in the TRCA landscape particular umbrella species can be restored for. Second year of a three-year grant.
University of Ottawa, Ottawa, Ontario $35,000
Sustainable Prosperity
To reinforce the concept of a Green Economy with a broader Canadian audience, Sustainable Prosperity will boost its communications efforts over the next year with high-impact messages on topics such as Environmental Pricing Reform and carbon pricing. How to benchmark and track progress for a green economy will come from Sustainable Prosperity's network of academics and policy experts who provide research and policy options for market-based approaches to strong, green economic growth. Second year of a three-year grant.
Wildlife Conservation Society, Toronto, Ontario $15,000
Conservation, Mapping and Public Engagement in the Northern Appalachian/Acadian Ecoregion
WCS uses a systems approach to landscape-scale conservation with enhanced mapping and information overlays to illustrate key ecological factors influencing regional biodiversity, sites of conservation importance, and the five critical linkage areas. A landscape connectivity analysis will be done to demonstrate the need for ecological connectivity and for an adaptation strategy to climate change, allowing species and plant communities room to move. Recently developed and regularly updated by WCS, the online interactive Conservation Planning Atlas facilitates decision-making and collaboration at both local and regional levels by providing resources, science data, and GIS support for public and stakeholder engagement across the region. First year of a two-year grant.
World Wildlife Fund Canada, Toronto, Ontario $25,000
Mackenzie Valley Protected Areas Strategy (PAS)
WWf continues to work with Dene communities in their bid to have a 25,500 square kilometre area of spectacular mountains and valleys declared a National Wildlife Area. Known as Shúhtagot'ine Néné, this area includes four river systems, primary critical habitat for conservation-status plant and animal species, rare endemic plants, and a significant number of Biological Programme sites including caribou calving grounds and bird nesting sites. The goal of the Protected Areas Strategy is to identify and reserve a network of formally protected areas in advance of the proposed natural gas pipeline and associated industrial development along the Mackenzie Valley. The PAS provides the framework for a 'Conservation First' land-use planning process. Fifth of a five-year grant.
2008
Arts and Culture
Art Gallery of Ontario, Toronto, Ontario $25,000
Arts Access Legacy Projects
The legacy projects represent a consolidation of four years spent developing and building community arts resources, and online inter-regional dialogue among the Thunder Bay Art Gallery, the Kitchener-Waterloo Art Gallery, the Woodland Cultural Centre in Brantford - with outreach to Bala and Tyendinaga, and the Art Gallery of Ontario in Toronto. Each legacy project will strive to capture the collective sense of identity that emerged in each region, acknowledging the past, reflecting the present, and projecting a vision for the future. Tens of thousands of participants have been able to enjoy artmaking in their respective communities, and Arts Access has provided the groundwork for an enduring network of contacts and arts resources in art institutions across Ontario.
Qaujisaqtiit Society, Ottawa, Ontario $20,000
Nunavut Heritage Mentorship and Training Institute
The mentorship and training institute is part of a broad framework to ensure relevant and sustainable training for Nunavut heritage stakeholders from communities throughout Nunavut, where each community has its own collection of artefacts and heritage items. Building partnerships and a network of heritage stakeholders engaged in professional development will help ensure the long-term sustainability of the Nunavut heritage sector.
Royal Conservatory of Music, Toronto, Ontario $55,000
Active Ecology Initiative Northwest Territories
The template for the Active Ecology and Youth Empowerment Initiative developed in 2007-2008 will be fine-tuned to include Aboriginal culture and values for the program launch in Yellowknife February 2009. Learning Through the Arts will work closely with teachers, Aboriginal artists, elders and other community members to develop appropriate curriculum units and to train community artists for the Active Ecology program, promoting student engagement in an interactive learning process. First of a two-year $ 110,000 grant.
University of Toronto, Toronto, Ontario $90,000
Dictionary of Old English
Having linked electronically on the Web with the Oxford English Dictionary in 2007, the DOE will now create links to the Middle English Dictionary at the University of Michigan. With a click of the mouse, readers will be able to explore online the cultural record of the English language over a period of more than 1300 years. Of the approximately 33,000 known words of Old English, some 20,000 entries have now been written. Moving forward the goal is to write 1,000 entries per year. Third of a three-year $ 250,000 grant.
Environment
Alternatives Journal, Waterloo, Ontario $5,000
Sustainability Taken Seriously
Alternatives Journal is housed within the Faculty of Environment at the University of Waterloo. The August 2008 issue examines high-profile cases in which sustainability-based evaluation frameworks have weighed the notional benefits of proposed mining and quarrying initiatives against likely environmental impacts, economic and social effects. No longer a question of how to mitigate environmental damage, the 'sustainability test' measures the extent to which both ecological and community sustainability can be met.
Canadian Environmental Grantmakers' Network, Toronto, Ontario $3,000
To research and communications for the Canadian Environmental Grantmakers' Network.
Canadian Environmental Law Association, Toronto, Ontario $10,000
Mapping and Reporting on Pollution Levels for the Great Lakes-St. Lawrence Ecosystem
The most up-to-date pollution data will be used to map and analyse pollution levels in the Great Lakes-St. Lawrence basins, and the Pollution Watch website will be expanded to incorporate additional source-water protection maps, demonstrating the relationship beween source-water protection and the health of the Great Lakes ecosystem. This updated mapping and reporting serves to inform the public, public interest organizations, government and other stakeholders concerned with the need to reduce toxic substance releases into these waters, and to restore and protect the Great Lakes.
Canadian Institute for Environmental Law and Policy, Toronto, Ontario $9,800
Legal Regulation of Antibiotics and Hormone Growth Promoters in Canadian Livestock and Poultry
For a legal analysis and report on the regulation of antibiotics and hormone growth promoters routinely given to beef cattle and poultry, beyond their practical use therapeutically to treat illness and disease. Biologically active chemical compounds contained in agricultural waste are considered an emerging threat to fish, birds, and other wildlife as well as to surface water and aquifers. The European Union has banned the use of antibiotics and growth promoters for non-therapeutic purposes. This report will recommend similar regulations be put in place for Canada.
www.phschool.com/science/science_news/articles/hormones_beef.html
www.pubmedcentral.nih.gov/articlerender.fcgi?artid=1817701
Climate Action Network Canada, Ottawa, Ontario $10,000
The Path Forward for Climate Action in Canada
This grant supports Climate Action Network's communications work, coordinating and strengthening the work of its more than 50 member organizations around inter-provincial policy, events and processes, in order to promote the upward harmonization of provincial climate policy. The communications work will also cover regional and transboundary climate initiatives between Canada and the United States, and key international meetings scheduled over the next two years. The Climate Action Network continues to act as a hub for information exchange and will use its position strategically to keep the media engaged on inter-provincial and international climate change issues.
Conservation Council of New Brunswick, Fredericton, New Brunswick $10,000
Health Watch: Making the Pollution-Health Connect
Health Watch will focus public attention on the links between pollution and health in New Brunswick. With its own French/English web page on the Conservation Council's website, Health Watch will map pollution and community health "hotspots", highlighting the incidence of elevated levels of cancers in communities around the province and the relationship to known industrial emissions and pesticide use. The web page will also feature profiles on community health, emissions data, current research on environmental contaminants and health, and reports on policy initiatives relating to health and the environment. First of a two-year $ 15,000 grant.
Conservation Foundation of Greater Toronto, Toronto, Ontario $30,000
Recovery Plan and Strategic Restoration Program
The recovery plan and targeted land restoration are designed to address the loss of natural cover and biodiversity on lands within the jurisdiction of the Toronto and Region Conservation Authority. This will provide for a robust level of ecosystem recovery that is strategic and effectively prioritized for habitat securement and restoration. It will assemble, map, and analyze data, expand existing layers of forest and wetlands, and consolidate both umbrella and individual species habitat information. Restoration activities will focus on areas that can provide the greatest potential improvement in biodiversity and species recovery. First of a three-year $ 90,000 grant.
www.trca.on.ca/conservation_foundation
www.mnr.gov.on.ca/mnr/biodiversity
Couchiching Conservancy, Orillia, Ontario $15,000
The Land Between Collaborative Project
The Land Between (TLB) is a 40 km-wide band of shallow limestone and granite bedrock extending along the southern edge of the Canadian shield from Georgian Bay to Kingston. It is very diverse in its landforms and ecological communities because of strong north-south transitions in geology, elevation, and climate. The project brings focus to the distinctive and vulnerable nature of this region, which calls for smart land-use management and planning practices, research, outreach and conservation measures to celebrate and sustain key features and functions of the TLB landscape. Funding in 2008 is directed to three project areas: (1) developing and publicizing conservation strategies for several areas of interest in the central and eastern parts of TLB (2) promoting stewardship and conservation opportunities with landowners within the focus areas (3) communications work, and support to the Annual Research Forum to share emerging information. Second of a two-year $ 30,000 grant.
Ducks Unlimited Canada, Barrie, Ontario $10,000
Headwaters Healthy Wetlands
A broad partnership initiative promoting wetland conservation and habitat restoration in the headwaters area of five major river systems, most of which flow from the Dundalk Plateau, south of Georgian Bay. The 8 to 10 wetland demonstration sites developed as templates will be supported by educational workshops, technical advice and in some cases, financial assistance to help rural landowners construct or restore wetlands on their own farmland. Wetland conservation and enhancement will benefit local water quality and quantity in Wellington, Dufferin and Grey county rural areas as well as the downstream urban centres of Waterloo, Kitchener, Cambridge and Brantford. First of a two-year $ 20,000 grant.
Ecojustice Canada, Toronto, Ontario $25,000
Reducing Toxic Discharges in the Great Lakes Basin
The project seeks to address the need for cumulative effects assessment prior to new industrial approvals being issued for wastewater discharges, particularly in areas burdened by pollutants from multiple industrial facilities. Specific facility discharges will be identified, and specific impacts of current wastewater discharges will be measured and analyzed. A detailed review of existing regulations will determine if current effluent standards conform to the best available treatment technology and whether they adequately cover new and emerging pollutants of concern.
Environmental Defence, Toronto, Ontario $20,000
Toxic Nation Testing
To support further testing of pollutants carried in the bodies of average Canadians, with a focus on heavy metals and other harmful chemicals, exposures to which come from everyday household products and consumer goods. The project aims to reinforce the need for aggressive timelines in eliminating the most toxic substances, and for regulations to control other toxic chemicals currently being permitted in consumer products. Test results, conclusions and recommendations will be reviewed by experts in toxicology and environmental contaminants.
www.environmentaldefence.ca/campaigns/toxicnation.htm
Green Budget Coalition, Ottawa, Ontario $5,000
The Green Budget Coalition represents 19 of Canada's leading environmental and conservation organizations. The Coalition submits 3 - 6 priority recommendations for government policy-makers to consider, in advance of the annual federal budget. The goal of the Coalition is to assist the government in developing and implementing strategic budgetary and fiscal measures critical to long-term environmental sustainability. Second of a three-year $ 15,000 grant.
Natural Step, Ottawa, Ontario $36,250
Atlantic Canada Sustainability Initiative
In partnership with GPI Atlantic, the Centre for Rural Sustainability and the Nova Scotia Environmental Network, The Natural Step is coordinating a year long exercise in building capacity and commitment to sustainable development among participating municipalities, universities, businesses and other key organizations using The Natural Step's systematic planning process as a common language and framework. Participants have committed to building capacity and competence in sustainability, to implementing action plans, and to expanding networks and opportunities for collaboration, helping to move Atlantic communities toward sustainability on a regional scale.
Nature Conservancy of Canada, Montréal, Québec $20,000
Two Countries One Forest
2C1Forest is a Canada-US.cross-border collaboration of more than 50 conservation organizations, researchers and foundations working to connect and protect key linkages across the Northern Appalachian/Acadian Ecoregion through a science-based, landscape-scale conservation initiative. This grant will help support the dissemination of regional mapping to local communities, conservation groups and planners. This will enhance the use of available information for the purposes of integrating local economies and values with conservation goals into this broad ecoregion concept. Second of a two-year $ 40,000 grant.
Otonabee Conservation Authority, Peterborough, Ontario $8,000
Comparing Policy and Practice between European Jurisdictions, Ontario and the Great Lakes Basin
This report will analyse successful models for integrated watershed management, drinking-water source protection, and effective land-use planning policies for the protection of natural areas, comparing European jurisdictions with those of Ontario and others in the Great Lakes Basin. The analysis will provide points of comparison for environmental NGOs, Conservation Authorities and other agencies to evaluate their programs and activities and align codes of practice and policies where appropriate.
University of Ottawa, Ottawa, Ontario $35,000
Sustainable Prosperity
The Sustainable Prosperity Initiative brings together a broad coalition of business, academic and environmental leaders to develop a blueprint for transforming the Canadian economy, incorporating environmental costs and benefits into market prices. The research network is working together to better understand and apply market-based instruments for protecting the environment in cost-effective ways. First of a three-year $ 105,000 grant.
World Wildlife Fund Canada, Toronto, Ontario $25,000
Mackenzie Valley Protected Areas Strategy
The Protected Areas Strategy (PAS) demonstrates how the 'Conservation First Principle' has prevailed in creating a network of large protected areas in the Mackenzie River Basin. The goal of withdrawing land for protection anticipates the proposed gas pipeline, and other associated industrial development. Areas now under interim protection are the result of a working consensus reached between aboriginal communities, local governement and the federal government, with assistance from environmental NGOs. In November 2007, the Government of Canada formalized interim protection for an additional 19,350 square kilometres around the east arm of Great Slave Lake to add to the existing 7,000 square kilometre proposed national park reserve. Further north near Fort Good Hope, the significant wetlands of the Ramparts River area will become a 15,000 square kilometre national wildlife area. Finally, the 60,000 + square kilometres known as the Akaitcho Settlement Lands and claimed by the Dene First Nation, will be set aside for interim protection over five years to prevent mining and mineral exploration and allow time to plan for permanent protection and/or indigenous title. Fourth year of a five-year $ 125,000 grant.
2007
Arts and Culture
Art Gallery of Ontario, Toronto, Ontario $25,000
ArtsAccess Initiative
Four institutions are engaged in this multi-year initiative to foster community development through the arts: the Art Gallery of Ontario in Toronto, Kitchener-Waterloo Art Gallery, Thunder Bay Art Gallery and Woodland Cultural Centre in Brantford/Six Nations. ArtsAccess encourages civic involvement, community awareness and social change through arts education and programming in schools, galleries, community centres, festivals, streetscapes, storefronts and other public spaces. "Collection X" is the web-based platform for this involvement with the arts found at: www.collectionx.museum where online visitors can browse permanent art collections but also upload their own content to create virtual exhibitions by adding stories, other images, video and audio clips. Third year of a three-year grant.
Canadian Museum for Human Rights, Winnipeg, Manitoba $50,000
To meet some of the Museum's information technology needs for remote access functions. This will include the creation of a virtual museum and virtual exhibitions. For those visiting the Museum via the Internet, an electronic forum for symposia, town halls and chat rooms will provide opportunities for exchanging ideas on current and emerging issues concerning human rights, both in Canada and around the world. In December 2008 the Museum launched its first online exhibit featuring John Peters Humphrey, a legal scholar originally from New Brunswick who, along with Eleanor Roosevelt and other visionaries, was the principal author in drafting the Universal Declaration of Human Rights, adopted by the United Nations in 1948. The Museum is scheduled to begin construction in the spring of 2009, and to open in 2012. Second of a two-year grant.
Evergreen, Toronto, Ontario $100,000
A.P. Coleman Geological Centre
The geological legacy contained in the North Slope at the Don Valley Brickworks will be explained in the A.P.Coleman Geological Centre, an essential part of Evergreen's re-telling of the history, architecture, geology and industrial processes at the brickworks. Examining a period of about 135,000 years, the interpretive centre will describe the various glaciations starting with the York Till, oldest glacial deposit in the Toronto region, and the warm-climate interglacial deposits sandwiched between cold-climate glacial strata. Fossil materials to be examined will include caddisflies, diatoms, trilobites, crinoids, molluscs, pollen, and bones from giant beaver, bears, buffalo and mammoths. In the 1890's Professor Coleman produced one of the first maps of the glacial deposits of the Toronto region, and later was Head of the Department of Geology at the University of Toronto. Due to his work on the exposed sediments recording 100,000 years of climate history, the Scarborough Bluffs and the Don Valley Brickworks continue to be visited by geologists from around the world.
Royal Conservatory of Music, Toronto, Ontario $55,000
LTTA Active Ecology and Youth Empowerment Initiative
The Ontario Arts Foundation has engaged Learning Through the Arts (LTTA) to develop an active ecology and youth empowerment initiative using the LTTA framework and tools to deliver interactive environmental education. This initiative follows on the provincial government's announcement to integrate environmental learning into core curriculum in Ontario. The initiative will promote creative action, collaboration, and participation in ecological issues. It will be launched in six regions in Ontario in 2008: Windsor, Niagara, Thunder Bay and Sudbury, Ottawa, Toronto and the GTA. This learning template will be available to other provinces and territories from 2009 and will likely be launched in Alberta and the Northwest Territories.
University of Toronto, Toronto, Ontario $90,000
Dictionary of Old English
Web publication of the first eight letters of the Dictionary of Old English (DOE) has enabled the DOE to be linked electronically with the Oxford English Dictionary. This technological advance allows readers to see the development of many words from their very beginning into Modern English. It is a first step toward building a tool for cross-searching dictionaries and provides an opportunity for understanding the interplay between language and culture. Second of a three-year grant.
Environment
Canary Research Institute for Mining, Environment and Health, Ottawa, Ontario $18,000
Helping Communities Protect Fish Habitat from Mining Impacts
The Research Institute will analyse the implications of proposed changes to the Federal Fisheries Act, one of the few federal laws that protects the environment from mining impacts. The Institute also continues to work with First Nations in remote communities to carry out community-based monitoring of water quality, fish populations and fish habitat, primarily at sites in BC, the Yukon and Newfoundland. Second of a 2-year grant.
Couchiching Conservancy, Orillia, Ontario $15,000
The Land Between Collaborative Project
To support communications work, and field-work assessing the ecological values, priorities and conservation needs of focal areas within the Land Between, a land corridor stretching from Georgian Bay to Kingston along the southern edge of the Canadian shield. First of a two-year grant.
Ecology Action Centre, Halifax, Nova Scotia $15,000
Reconnecting the Coast
The EAC continues its coastal work with a focus on Nova Scotia's beaches, with local and municipal capacity building and outreach, consolidating gains, and knowledge dissemination of work carried out in the province's salt marshes and coastal wetlands. The EAC documents growing media and public interest in coastal management issues and the perceived need for an integrated province-wide coastal strategy for Nova Scotia.
Environmental Defence, Toronto, Ontario $20,000
Toxic Nation Ontario
The Toxic Nation campaign highlights the interrconnectness of human health with that of the environment and points to potential health risks including cancer, developmental and reproductive damage, respiratory illness, hormone disruption, and damage to the nervous system. Environmental Defence has conducted studies on children and adults from across Canada including 4 Federal politicians, the results of which show the frequent occurrence of a wide variety of chemicals carried in the body. The campaign continues with a similar soon-to-be-published body burden study of Ontario's 3 main political leaders.
Green Budget Coalition, Ottawa, Ontario $5,000
Opportunities for a Greener Canada
The Green Budget Coaltion (GBC) is made up of 21 member-organizations of environmentalists and conservationists who agree priorities for the environment, and present them to MPs, Senators and government policy-makers in advance of the annual Federal Budget. The GBC places particular emphasis on ecological fiscal reform, to promote the redirection of taxation and expenditure programs toward incentives for sustainable development. First of a 3-year grant.
Natural Step, Ottawa, Ontario $10,000
Sustainability: Step by Natural Step
The original extended eLearning course has increased the capacity of The Natural Step to deliver education and training in sustainable operations to a number of key communities and organizations across Canada. The current grant supports the continuing evaluation and improvement of the original 'Step by Natural Step', plus the development of a new one-hour bilingual version dubbed 'Sustainability 101.' Both versions engage participants in how to take environmental, social and economic priorities and integrate them into communities or businesses in a practical way. Second of a 2-year grant.
Nature Conservancy of Canada, Montreal, Quebec $20,000
Two Countries One Forest
2C1Forest is a Canada-U.S. cross-border collaboration of more than 50 conservation organizations, researchers and foundations working to connect and protect key linkages across the Northern Appalachian/Acadian ecoregion through a science-based landscape-scale conservation initiative. This grant will help support a GIS specialist-technician working with local communities and conservation groups to understand and analyse topographical maps, forestry maps, legal surveys, geological and agricultural overlays in order to integrate local needs and local economies into this broad ecoregion concept. First of a 2-year grant.
Nature Conservancy, Quebec Region, Montreal, Quebec $10,000
Adirondack Aquifer and Conservation Plan
Nature Conservancy continues to map the transboundary aquifer of the Chateauguay River basin within which the Covey Hill area is an important groundwater recharge area. The expanding GIS database allows for in-depth habitat analysis, land-use planning, and monitoring of groundwater resources. The watershed is shared by the province of Quebec and the state of New York, both of which have contributed academic researchers, conservationists and government agencies in developing conservation measures and policies to protect regional water quality and supply.
Ontario Nature, Toronto, Ontario $5,000
A Strategic Communications Plan for the Endangered Species and Boreal Campaigns
To promote the need for a strong new Endangered Species Act (ESA), linking this to the need for "conservation first" planning in the boreal forests of Ontario. A rigorous ESA combined with binding commitments to protect the boreal forest from inappropriate, piecemeal industrial development promises to provide a comprehensive framework for safeguarding the boreal forest, wilderness sites, and the endangered species that depend on them. In May 2007 the new Endangered Species Act became law, broadly supported by all major political parties. The new legislation will use a science-based approach for listing species and habitat to be protected while at the same time allowing for socio-economic concerns to be addressed. Ontario is home to approximately 40% of Canada's endangered species.
Ottawa Riverkeeper, Ottawa, Ontario $10,000
River Report
The second River Report will examine the cumulative impacts of chemical and toxic pollutants discharged daily into the Ottawa River in municipal wastewater effluent. In addition, the study will take into account the impacts of sewage spills, bypasses, and overflows following heavy rains, whose combined effects have significant implications for human health and the river's aquatic ecosystem. Report findings and recommendations will promote both individual and community action in Quebec and Ontario to improve the health of the Ottawa River.
Saint Mary's University, Halifax, Nova Scotia $17,000
Building Capacity for Community-Based Nearshore Marine Monitoring in Nova Scotia
A Nearshore Marine Monitoring Toolkit will be developed and put into action around Halifax Harbour, St. Margaret's Bay, and the Bay of Fundy at Annapolis. The Toolkit and its protocols will be made available to other coastal community groups around the province, and elsewhere in Atlantic Canada. In due course, monitoring data will be posted on the Internet via a web-based atlas, and the collated data will be widely shared among community groups and federal, provincial or municipal agencies concerned with near-shore water quality. The project recognizes the critical importance of public participation in local stewardship to meet long-term goals of sustainability.
Sierra Club of Canada Foundation, Ottawa, Ontario $10,000
Expansion of the Climate Action Network Website
An updated, expanded and more interactive website will provide concerned Canadians with a ready resource on climate change, and ideas about what they, as individuals can and should be doing about the changing climate. The expanded website will include a Solutions Database, enabling individuals, companies and institutions to post technologies that are designed to reduce greenhouse gas emissions, bringing together people looking for solutions with those who can provide them.
Southern Gulf of St. Lawrence Coalition on Sustainability, Moncton, New Brunswick $15,000
Adopting Sustainability Indicators to Improve Estuarine Health
A coalition of 21 community groups from New Brunswick, Nova Scotia and Prince Edward Island will monitor and track several key environmental indicators as a means to improving the management of estuaries in the Southern Gulf of St. Lawrence region. Each group will post locally collected watershed based data to an on-line regional atlas, to be analysed and interpreted by scientists at the University of New Brunswick (UNB). The long-term goal of the project is to document trends and changes in ecosystems to inform management decisions taken by government and other stakeholders. The project is a collaboration with Fisheries and Oceans Canada, the Ecological Monitoring and Assessment Network, UNB and the Université de Moncton.
World Wildlife Fund Canada, Toronto, Ontario $25,000
Mackenzie Valley Protected Areas Project
To identify and reserve a network of protected areas in advance of the proposed natural gas pipeline and associated industrial development in the Mackenzie Valley. WWF-Canada is working closely with aboriginal organizations and conservation groups in the Dene, Dehcho, Sahtu and Gwich'in regions of the Mackenzie Valley. Key ecological areas as well as those of cultural significance to the people who live there will be formally protected under the Northwest Territories Protected Areas Strategy (PAS). The PAS provides the framework for a 'Conservation First' land-use planning process. This will result in an interconnected network of large wilderness areas. Early March 2007 the Federal Government announced a formal agreement to protect 5,800 square kilometres in the Northwest Territories. These lands consist of two large peninsulas jutting into the western side of Great Bear Lake, now permanently withdrawn from mining or oil industry development. This area has historical links to the Dene people and is home to woodland caribou, grizzly bears, wolverines and peregrine falcons. Several other sites totalling more than 100,000 square kilometres are in line for protected status under the PAS. Third of a five-year grant.