Canadian Wildlife Service
Service canadien de la faune | |
Bird Rocks, Magdalan Island, Quebec | |
Agency overview | |
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Formed | November 1, 1947 |
Headquarters | Ottawa |
Employees | 550 |
Parent department | Environment and Climate Change Canada |
Parent agency | Government of Canada |
Website | Official website of Canadian Wildlife Service |
The Canadian Wildlife Service or CWS (French: Service canadien de la faune), is a Branch of the Department of Environment and Climate Change Canada, a department of the Government of Canada. November 1, 2012 marked the 65th anniversary of the founding of Service (originally known as the Dominion Wildlife Service).[1]
The Canadian Wildlife Service has been Canada's national wildlife agency since 1947.
Core responsibilities
The core responsibility of the Canadian Wildlife Service are the protection and management of
Biologists employed by the Canadian Wildlife Service also review environmental assessments, and review and issue permits under the Migratory Bird Regulations, Migratory Bird Sanctuary Regulations, Wildlife Area Regulations, and Species at Risk Act.[citation needed]
Prior to 2006 the Canadian Wildlife Service was also home to wildlife research and enforcement staff. Wildlife research is now a part of the Science and Technology Branch, and Enforcement is now a separate Branch. Wildlife research is predominantly waterfowl and seabird
Wildlife management in Canada is constitutionally a shared responsibility among the federal and provincial / territorial and Indigenous governments. Canadian Wildlife Service works closely with these governments on a wide variety of wildlife issues. CWS engages in cooperative management projects with a number of international and domestic non government agencies and funds a significant number of management and research or monitoring initiatives.[citation needed]
Canadian Wildlife Service in 2017 had approximately 550 staff, with offices in all Canadian provinces and territories except Prince Edward Island. The organization has a regional structure, with a Pacific Region (British Columbia), Northern Region (Yukon, Northwest Territories, Nunavut), Prairie Region (Alberta, Saskatchewan, Manitoba), Ontario Region, Quebec Region, and Atlantic Region (New Brunswick, Nova Scotia, Prince Edward Island, and Newfoundland and Labrador). Headquarters in Ottawa/Gatineau has the largest number of staff.[citation needed]
Wildlife Areas and Bird Sanctuaries
Canadian Wildlife Service also manages 54
History
CWS traces its history to the early 20th century with the decline and/or extinction of several species of migratory birds in eastern North America as a result of hunting, including the passenger pigeon. It became apparent to the federal government that the provincial responsibilities toward hunting regulation of migratory birds by various sub-national jurisdictions (provinces in Canada, states in the United States) was limited in scope.
In 1916, Great Britain (for Canada) and the United States of America signed the "Migratory Birds Convention", followed by the Parliament of Canada passing the Migratory Birds Convention Act in 1917, which gave the federal government responsibility for managing migratory bird species either harmless or beneficial to man. The Convention adopted a uniform system of protection for certain species of birds which migrate between the United States and Canada, in order to assure the preservation of species including setting dates for closed seasons on migratory birds and prohibiting hunting insectivorous birds, but allowed killing of birds under permit when injurious to agriculture. The Convention was amended by the Parksville protocol (initialled by the parties in 1995) to update and improve the conservation of migratory birds and to establish a legal framework for the subsistence take of birds. Canada implemented the Protocol by enacting the revised Migratory Birds Convention Act, 1994.
With the federal government's reorganization of the Department of Resources and Development, the Dominion Wildlife Service (DWS), was established in November 1947.[1] As a part of the new Lands and Development Services Branch, it was not meant to be as much of a research organization, but a "development and administrative service." The DWS dealt with policy and methods in the conservation and management of wildlife resources. "Few people in the 1940s saw wildlife from a holistic point of view. Like trees, birds, mammals, and fish were generally viewed a resources to be responsibly managed for the purpose of generating long-terms economic returns." Wildlife was a national asset.[2]
By 1950 the DWS was known as the Canadian Wildlife Service (CWS). Harrison Lewis was the first head of the new service, remaining in that post until his retirement in 1952.
In the 1960s, 1970s and into the early 1980s, Canadian Wildlife Service produced
Individual Canadian Wildlife Service scientists and biologists became renowned for their work in conservation. Ernie Kuyt became well known for his pioneering work on the recovery of Whooping Cranes in Wood Buffalo National Park.
In the 1970s the
In spite of these increased responsibilities and public awareness, there were deep budget cuts in the 1980s that reduced CWS budgets and reduced staff by 23%. Later austerity budgeting in 1994 lead to more restructuring and elimination of vacant positions. The Fisheries Act (1986) transferred some responsibilities for aquatic ecosystem research to the Department of Fisheries and Oceans, but Canadian Wildlife Service also retracted from servicing the National Parks, cut caribou research in the Arctic, several interpretive centers opened in the early 1980s were closed by the late 1980s, and growth of the National Wildlife Areas and Migratory Bird Sanctuaries effectively ended during this period of time.
SARA and Restructuring (2002-2006)
By 2006 the Canadian Wildlife Service had been restructured, with research scientists and enforcement officers moved to other Branches of Environment Canada. Publication series and public outreach functions were discontinued, and centralized control of communications reduced the freedom and frequency of CWS staff speaking at conferences or to the media. Attempts were made to eliminate the name "Canadian Wildlife Service" to something that reflected a broader role in biodiversity conservation, and the logo of the Loon adopted in the early 1980s was banned for use in official communications. By 2010 the Canadian Wildlife Service no longer had a homepage on-line, despite still existing as an organizational unit within Environment Canada (now Environment and Climate Change Canada). The changes were ushered in following a dramatic shift in human and financial resources away from migratory bird research and management to the administration and implementation of the Species at Risk Act. Ongoing departmental reorganizations through this time period also impacted the Service through the creation of centralized services.[5][6]
See also
Citations
- ^ a b c d Burnett 2003, p. 22.
- ^ Burnett 2003, p. 61.
- ^ a b Balpataky 2004.
- ^ Burnett 2003, p. 211.
- ^ Bickis 2008.
- ^ MacDowell 2005.
References
- Balpataky, Katherine (2004), Hinterland Who's Who Fifty Year: Call of the Wild, Canadian Wildlife
- Burnett, James Alexander (2003), A Passion for Wildlife: The History of the Canadian Wildlife Service, UBC Press, ISBN 0-7748-0960-4
- MacDowell, Laurel Sefton (2005), "A Passion for Wildlife: The History of the Canadian Wildlife Service (review)", University of Toronto Quarterly, 74 (1): 507–509,
- Bickis, Lija Margaret Bebee (2008), Improving strategy for the Canadian Wildlife Service: A comparative study with the Parks Canada Agency and the Department of Fisheries and Oceans (Doctorate in Planning), Waterloo, Ontario: University of Waterloo, retrieved 26 December 2013
- Biodiversity Conservation in Canada, Redpath Museum, nd, archived from the original on 14 March 2008, retrieved 26 December 2013
- "Caribou Researched Axed" (PDF), Yukon Conservation Society, 1984, archived from the original (PDF) on 2013-12-27, retrieved 2013-12-27
External links
- Canadian Wildlife Service Report on Caribou at Dartmouth College Library