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BCnature Winter 20225Conservation Committee Updates Authors - Peter Ballin and the Conservation CommitteeContinued page 6The colour of my hair would classify me as an elder. Is that the case for you? Perhaps your hair the federal government’s efforts to is not grey, but you may qualify (I was classified as an elder when I was 32 by a First Nations com-munity!). In October, David Suzuki announced his retirement from The Nature of Things television program. In his exit interviews, he implored elders to speak their voices in defense of nature. Noth-ing to lose, he said. No risk of being sustainable development, fired. No retributions likely, and if so, so what? BC Nature’s mission: to know nature and keep it worth knowing. We are meant to be a voice for nature. Speak your voice! Join the conservation committee and your club members in raising that voice.And here’s what committee member Ben van Drimmelen has to say about that: Want a Minister’s ear? BC Nature regularly writes letters to ministers and civil servants in our provincial and federal governments. Ministers generally respond, although frequently with generalities and a dearth of commitments. Nevertheless, it is worth writing such letters, if only to raise an issue and state a position.Recently, the Commission of the Environment and Sustainable Development, a part of the office of the Auditor General of Canada, gave a webinar presentation on how the federal government was doing regarding biodiversity. The Commission is a watchdog agency that is independent of, but audits, the federal government, providing parliamentarians and Canadians with objective, independent analysis and recommendations on protect the environment, mitigate the effects of climate change, and foster sustainable development. It reports directly to Parliament and has produced some 30 reports since 2015, on subjects such as protecting aquatic species at risk, promoting biodiversity, managing carbon pricing, encouraging managing aquatic invasive species, protecting marine mammals and regulating salmon farming (go to https://bit.ly/3UDbhGo). The recent webinar summarized three recent Commission investigations and reports: 1. Protecting Aquatic Species at Risk, an audit of whether Fisheries and Oceans Canada, in collaboration with others, protected selected aquatic species assessed as at risk;2. Progress in Implementing Sustainable Development Strategies—Species at Risk, another audit assessing the contribution of Environment and Climate Change Canada, Fisheries and Oceans Canada, and Parks Canada to meeting a target of species at risk under the Healthy Wildlife Populations goal in the 2019 to 2022 Federal Sustainable Development Strategy; and3. A Backgrounder on Biodiversity in Canada: Commitments and Trends, https://bit.ly/3Vv4jDt, which provided general information on Canada’s commitments to protect biodiversity. It also addressed species at risk status and trends.Generally, the Commission found the federal government actions to be lacklustre. The number of federally-listed at-risk species has steadily increased from 17 in 1978 to 841 today. And there was evidence of “client capture” whereby a federal agency favours commercial users; the federal Department of Fisheries and Oceans (DFO), for example, tends to oppose species-at-risk listing of commercially-significant aquatic species while happily supporting listing of aquatic species with no commercial value. Another indication of that department’s skewed priorities was staffing for enforcement, with by far most officers working on the east and west coasts (where many commercially-exploited aquatic species are found), with only 30 (of 530) officers trying to cover freshwater Canada (where many of the aquatic species at risk are located). A third indication is that department’s collection of data. Fisheries and Oceans Canada focuses its knowledge-building mostly on the marine species of commercial value that it manages; there is little knowledge-building on data-deficient species.Basking Shark in Pacific waters is designated as endangered.