Ontario, Manitoba agree to manage natural hertiage area

NEWS RELEASE

DAVID ORAZIETTI, MPP

*****************************
Ontario and Manitoba ministers announce joint agreement to manage natural heritage area

Orazietti and Mackintosh working together on proposed Pimachiowin Aki Boreal Forest World Heritage Site

SAULT STE. MARIE - David Orazietti, MPP was joined today in Thunder Bay by Manitoba’s Minister of Conservation and Water Stewardship, Gord Mackintosh, to announce that the provinces of Ontario and Manitoba are working together to protect and manage the Pimachiowin Aki, a proposed United Nations Educational, Scientific and Cultural Organization (UNESCO) World Heritage Site comprising 33,400km2 of boreal forest in northwestern Ontario and eastern Manitoba.

“I am pleased we are working together to protect and manage the proposed Pimachiowin Aki site in conjunction with our First Nation Partners in both provinces,” said Orazietti. “This area of the boreal forest provides an important habitat for many species and holds great significance to the traditional Aboriginal way of life. Ontario is proud to support Pimachiowin Aki as a UNESCO World Heritage Site.”

The Pimachiowin Aki World Heritage Project is a collaboration of five First Nations and two provincial governments committed to securing world heritage status for the largest protected-area network in the North American boreal shield.

Ontario and Manitoba have entered into a Memorandum of Understanding (MOU) to protect and manage the site and surrounding natural resources and help to strengthen the site’s application to the World Heritage Committee’s Advisory bodies.

“This agreement is an important step toward ensuring the heart of the last intact forest of its kind left in the world is protected and managed for generations, said Gord Mackintosh, Minister of Conservation and Water Stewardship, Manitoba. “Through the leadership of our First Nation partners, we hope to secure Canada’s first UNESCO world heritage site based on both natural and cultural criteria.”

In early 2012, Parks Canada submitted a World Heritage Site nomination package to UNESCO on behalf of Ontario, Manitoba and five First Nation partners (Pikangikum, Little Grand Rapids, Pauingassi, Poplar River and Bloodvein).

A decision on the Pimachiowin Aki site is expected to be made by UNESCO in June 2013.

If successful, Pimachiowin Aki would be Canada’s first UNESCO World Heritage Site recognized for its outstanding universal value based on both natural and cultural criteria.

Only a handful of such mixed sites have been inscribed world-wide.

Quick facts

Pimachiowin Aki, the name of the proposed World Heritage Site located in Northwestern Ontario and Eastern Manitoba, means “the land that gives life” in the Anishinaabe (Ojibwe) language

Pimachiowin Aki is 33,400 square kilometres in size and includes the traditional territories of five First Nation communities: Pikangikum, Little Grand Rapids, Pauingassi, Poplar River and Bloodvein.

The Pimachiowin Aki UNESCO World Heritage Site nomination is the first to be submitted in Canada based on both natural and cultural heritage values.

Currently, the Rideau Canal is the only UNESCO World Heritage Site in Ontario.
 
*****************************