 Hello. My name is Murray Rankin. I'm the Minister of Indigenous Relations and Reconciliation. I'm talking to you today from Laquungen speaking territory, the Esquimalt and Songhees Nations. I'm here at the legislature in Victoria. Thanks for joining us today for an announcement that I think will be great news for coastal British Columbia. It will be great news for Indigenous and coastal communities on Vancouver Island and along the Central Coast, and it will be great news for hundreds of people, particularly young people, who will see employment opportunities this summer to help make our marine environment cleaner. The Clean Coast Clean Waters Initiative Fund is part of the Clean BC Plastics Action Plan. This year, it's also part of BC's $10 billion COVID-19 response to support economic recovery in our province. The Fund will be contributing to that goal by supporting another major cleanup project along our coastline. We'll be hearing today from a couple of people who will be taking part in this year's shoreline cleanup projects. But first, I will turn it over to my colleague, the Honourable George Heyman, Minister of Environment and Climate Change Strategy. Thank you so much, Minister Rankin. I want to join you in acknowledging that we're here on the traditional territory of the Laquungen peoples, the Songhees and Esquimalt Nations. And thank you for starting us off in a good way. Our connection to place in British Columbia and how we care for it is really at the heart of today's announcement. The Clean Coast Clean Waters Initiative is a successful and growing partnership between Indigenous Nations, tourism operators, marine stewardship agencies, local communities and our government. We all have a role to play recognizing the importance of our ocean and our coastline, and we accomplish more together. This year, we're announcing that we're investing $9.5 million for cleanup projects that will restore the health of our spectacular coastline and help the species that depend on a clean ocean environment. This initiative that we're announcing today will reduce pollution and sensitive marine ecosystems. It will create needed jobs and economic stimulus. It will support local communities and Indigenous nations. It's part of our government's economic recovery program, creating employment for young people and others, hard hit by this pandemic. And as Minister Rankin mentioned, it is a key part of our Clean BC Plastics Action Plan, and it builds on the consultations we did a year ago that were led by now Minister Sheila Malcomson, then Parliamentary Secretary. The Small Ship Tour Operators Association employed members last year in what was looking like a devastating year for its fleet. We're trying to build on that success. We invested in their knowledge and expertise, and together the result was the largest industrial scale plastics cleanup off the central coast and the outer shore of the Great Bear Rainforest. 127 tons of debris was removed for more than 500 kilometers of coastline in just 42 days. This year's initiative includes project recipients like the Songhees Development Corporation. They will focus on removing 100 derelict vessels around southern Vancouver Island and the southern Gulf Islands. The Ocean Legacy Foundation will concentrate on desolation sound and the Central Salish Sea, partnering with three Indigenous nations to clean up 400 kilometers of coastline. And the Coastal Restoration Society will tackle shoreline debris and derelict vessels on the west coast of Vancouver Island. That effort will involve 10 Indigenous nations and a stretch of shoreline up to 400 kilometers long. We're also pleased to announce that the Small Ship Tour Operators and the Wilderness Tourism Association will again take part in the program and bring their expertise and experience from general work as well as last year's project. Their ships will travel to the outer coast of the Great Bear Rainforest and partner with four Indigenous nations to clean more than 400 kilometers of coastline. In closing, this year's Clean Water Initiative continues our response to what we heard from coastal communities about marine pollution. We're expanding our partnerships to address it. We know that the scale of the problem is massive and is built for many, many, many years. But the enthusiastic response we received to our call for proposal shows just how much British Columbians care about our marine environment. This initiative is such an important part of our Clean BC Plastics Action Plan and it will bring health to all of our communities. We know the vital role that the ocean plays in moderating our climate, regulating temperature. It's a critical food source and contributor to our ecology and it's a source of employment. It's not an understatement to say that our future is very, very much tied to the health of our ocean and of our coastline. Minister Rankin, back to you. Well, thank you very much, Minister Heyman. Very exciting announcement. Before I introduce our next speakers, I want to thank everyone who's put so much energy into this important initiative. I'm particularly pleased to see the involvement of so many coastal indigenous communities in helping to restore BC shores. The marine environment, of course, is at the heart of the culture, traditions, and livelihoods of coastal First Nations and these projects will support those values. This support could not come at a more critical time as we all continue to cope with the economic impact of the pandemic. Our government is committed to the recovery plan that we call Stronger BC for Everyone, a plan to protect people's health and livelihoods. It's going to enhance healthy communities through a clean environment and it's going to reduce pollution, including tackling the marine debris that clutters our coastline, as Minister Heyman has said so eloquently. Now I'm pleased to introduce two of our partners who will be carrying out the Clean Coast Clean Waters program this year. First up, Christina Clark, who is the CEO of the Songhees Development Corporation, which will be overseeing the removal of 100 derelict vessels around Victoria and the Gulf Islands. I've had the pleasure of meeting and working with Christina on many occasions. She's an amazing and inspirational leader. I also know how passionate she feels about our shared coastline and the commitment that she will bring to this role. Christina, thanks for joining us. Hi, Minister Rankin. Thank you. I'm grateful to be joining you today from the beautiful Qianu lands overlooking Beecher Bay. We are thrilled to receive this funding in support of environmental stewardship and workforce development for Songhees Nation and our project partners, Sailor's Sea Industrial Services, the Dead Boat Society, and the First Nations in whose Territorial Waters we will carry out our project. Sailor's Sea Industrial Services Limited was formed in 2012 as a joint venture between Songhees Nation, Esquimalt Nation, and the Realmax Group of Companies. This has been a significant step towards rebuilding our marine economy in our territorial waters. Through the Sailor's Sea Indigenous Marine Stewardship Project, we are bringing forward these proven partnerships and expertise and inviting fellow nations to join us and build trust around common goals. Working together on sharing jobs and training opportunities, we will contribute to advancing a skilled Indigenous workforce ready to compete and prosper in this rapidly growing sector of our economy. Indigenous people are the natural stewards of our territories. Our project acknowledges this role and seeks to further advance Indigenous stewardship in the marine economy. Thank you. Thanks very much, Christina, and thanks for your stewardship of the Blue Economy, this new economy we're moving toward in our region. I'd now like to introduce Chloe Dubois of the Ocean Legacy Foundation. The Foundation will be partnering with three Indigenous nations to tackle shoreline cleanup and desolation sound in the Central Sailor's Sea. Ocean Legacy Foundation is a Canadian nonprofit organization that develops and implements plastic pollution emergency response programs, and it's been a real leader in this field. Chloe, thanks for being part of our program. Good afternoon, everyone. My name is Chloe as Minister Rankin so eloquently introduced. I'd like to start off by acknowledging that I am calling in from the unceded territory of the Slave Oath Nation in Lovely Beach Cove, British Columbia. Again, thank you, Minister Rankin, and thank you so much for the opportunity to talk with you all today and to assist in the public release of this monumental news. It is such an honor and privilege to be a part of this ocean cleanup movement, and we do not take this responsibility lightly. So many of us have worked for decades in this field as volunteers. Some people much longer than I. So many of us have devoted our lives to restoring and reconnecting with the natural world and feel very passionately about the pollution along our coast. We are thrilled and excited by the opportunity and investment made by the Ministry of Environment and Climate Change Strategy of British Columbia. Never before has a fund such as the Clean Coast Clean Waters Initiative, and the size of this fund have been made available in this emerging industry of coastal plastic cleanup. This is an initiative which catalyzes and continues to grow our relationship with First Nations communities to learn from teachings of stewardship and connection, to provide opportunities for economic development. It is an initiative which catalyzes the concerns of civil society and nonprofit organizations, the economic needs of local businesses and industry, and continues to develop relations with government into direct action. This investment will bring some economic relief to hard hit coastal communities who are feeling the effects of COVID-19. This stimulus fund will be providing much needed employment opportunities for so many. But this funding must just be the beginning of this investment, as there is much work to be done along our coastlines to relieve our coastlines from plastic pollution and to continue to offer employment opportunities in a quickly changing environment. This funding is a promising next step towards socioeconomic development for coastal communities as well as for damaged aquatic ecosystems. It is also an opportunity to invest in innovative methods which divert marine debris from landfill and to start shifting behaviors around how we manage our plastic resources. Now is a time when we must think beyond ourselves into future generations. It is important that we work together to create the necessary tools which can bring us into a future harmonized with our natural planet. I look forward to what is sure to be an epic year of cleanup, of hard work and dedication, recycling and reuse of materials, of old and new friendships, and to building the necessary tools which will determine the future prosperity of the coast that we all love and share. In the words of Sylvia Earle, what we do in the next 10 years will affect the next 10,000. Thank you for your time today. Thanks very much Chloe and the Ocean Legacy Foundation and thank you for all the work you've done so far and I know we'll continue to do on our coast. That concludes the formal part of our ceremony. We'd now like to take questions from the media and I'll turn it over to Tara Gostolo for that portion. Tara. Thank you very much, Minister. A reminder to reporters on the line, to enter the queue you are limited to one question and one follow-up. First question we go to Justine Hunter, Globe and Mail. Mr. Heyman, I know this started as a pandemic project and it continues to be, but is there a long-term commitment from the government to continuing this program? Thank you, Justine. We had begun work on the Clean BC Plastics Action Plan and with a particular focus on marine debris impacting our coastline our marine ecosystem and as a great concern to communities. The pandemic unfortunately coincided with the first opportunity we had to do something about it. Maybe I shouldn't, I meant unfortunate about the pandemic, not the fact that we had an opportunity to begin a cleanup initiative. We have no committed funding beyond what we've announced today in 9.5 as well as an additional 5 million being made available for youth employment through the Future Leaders Program. But this program has been so successful we know that there is much marine debris many derelict vessels our government is committed to addressing that problem and we'll be working toward the future. Justine, do you have a follow-up? I do. What to do, a large part of what was cleaned up last year was this sort of ghost fishing equipment much of it from other countries just getting, landing on BC shores but fishing gear that's been perhaps circulating for decades is there any way I don't know, through the federal government for BC to push to have other countries help with this kind of cleanup given the source of it? Well I have to leave negotiations and discussions to the federal government with other nations but one of the things that we also try to do with the stronger BC recovery program last year was to provide some funding to seed exploration of expanding our plastics recycling recycling industry here in British Columbia as we all know we've seen many stories in the media about plastics supposedly being recycled and sent to other countries where it ends up in landfill or worse toxifying the environment there we do have some recycling plastics re-manufacturing in British Columbia we've had a lot of great expressions of interest by groups that want to expand that part of this clean coast clean waters initiative will be to have the people collecting the debris checking back with people with local expertise about how best to handle contaminated materials how to sort and ultimately move plastic toward plastic re-manufacturing so we make use of that garbage that is washed up on our shores Next question we go to Melanie Nage CTV Hi there this first question is for Minister Hayman it's on the topic of clean waters coasts and marine life Minister can you just tell me why you and your government are allowing the region to dump sea life pesticides at the Clayquat Sound Unesco biosphere reserve region particularly when you have first nations in that community speaking out against it as well as tour operators who make a living off of the eco tourism there we're actually still awaiting the application for use of that pesticide from Sir Max so we can adjudicate it it's not been received at least it hadn't been as of a couple of days ago but the paramove which is the pesticide in question is evaluated by Health Canada it is applied under strict requirements and we've tightened those requirements in our term of office it is effectively hydrogen peroxide and breaks down into hydrogen and oxygen clearly part of the pesticide application is to ensure that it's dispersed giving it time to effectively break down but we have yet to see the application and the plans for applying it and we'll adjudicate it when that happens Melanie do you have a follow-up? Yeah as far as back to today's announcement and just going back to kind of echoing something about Justine talked about the federal government you know I know that the different jurisdictions when it comes to our oceans that there is a vested interest you would think from the federal government in keeping our oceans and our coast clean you know is there any further discussions you're having with the federal government whether it's financial to help this program going you know it just feels like they could step forward to help with this good initiative as well Well we discussed a number of programs where we can partner with the federal government as an example in this one while they're not contributing money to this initiative they also have some programs to clean up derelict vessels we consulted to ensure that there was no overlap and inefficiency between the application of the two programs and I'm sure there will be more questions going forward We have time for one more question we'll go to Amy Smart, Canadian Press Hi there, just following up on Melanie's question obviously there's often jurisdictional issues with these cleanups are these areas strictly in BC waters and are you satisfied with the level of work the federal government is doing? Well we all need to do more we are always pressing the federal government to address significant issues whether it is threats to wild salmon from ocean based salmon aquaculture whether it's ensuring that the reviews of toxic chemicals or pesticides are up to date or whether it's habitat restoration but I think we are seeing as part of economic recovery a significant amount of money being spent by our government and also by the federal government to ensure that we're pursuing sustainable restoration habitat restoration protecting our ocean environment and addressing climate change while we're transitioning to a cleaner economy overall so there's always a lot more to do but we are partnering with the federal government every chance we get and of course we're always urging them to contribute federal dollars to assist the BC government in undertaking initiatives that they say they want to see undertaken across Canada Amy do you have a follow-up? Yeah I just wanted to clarify the 9.5 million is to I'm just reading the press release there it says more than 100 vessels is that over one year sorry I'm just catching up here These projects will need to be carried out weather permitting so much of it will happen in the spring and summer but this work needs to be completed by the end of 2021 so yes and we do have one final question Naomi Mishima from Vancouver Shinpo I'm just wondering if there's two degrees coming from the Japanese earthquake 10 years ago I'm sorry I could not understand the question I was just wondering if you clean up the shoreline degrees I'm just wondering if there's any degree looks like coming from a Japanese earthquake that happened 10 years ago I am not aware of any specific debris from that 10 year old event being identified but I would not at all be surprised that some of the debris that is being found stems from that we know that there was a lot there is training being undertaken to ensure the safety of people who are engaged in the collection but we know the currents bring for instance fishing floats discarded fishing gear all kinds of things across the ocean and end up on our coastline mixing with debris that's created here in BC or in other parts of the coast Naomi do you have a follow up? No thanks Thank you very much that concludes today's event