Masse advocates for future Ojibway National Urban Park

Windsor West MP Brian Masse was at the Ojibway Nature Centre advocating for Bill C-248 leading up to the final House of Commons vote Feb. 8.

“We have support the Conservatives. We have support from the Green. We have support from the Bloc. I tried to get the Liberals on board,” Masse explained.

Conservative MP for Essex Chris Lewis was on hand to show his support.

“We're not buying up and gobbling up new lands. We're tying existing lands together to create an opportunity for folks to get active,” he said.

The private members bill was introduced to establish the Ojibway National Urban Park of Canada. A third and final reading in the House of Commons is scheduled for early February for the bill competing with the government's own plan.

“We can do it the right way with this legislation or we can do it kind of like half-assed quite frankly way which is the government way right now which won't give us the proper supports, legislation, protection and money in the future and that's a key part of all of this,” said Masse.

According to Windsor-Tecumseh MP Irek Kusmierczyk, the Liberal party is aligned with the Parks Canada process which is currently consulting and signing deals.

“Parks Canada has had a hundred years building parks. They're leading this process and it's already well underway. It's absolutely thundering along,” he said.

With or without Bill C-248, he says the National Urban Park is going to be created through the Parks Canada process.

“We really do see an Ojibway National Urban Park being not only co-designed but co-managed by local indigenous partners and local environmental groups,” Kusmierczyk said.

Which political process creates the park doesn’t matter to the environment, but time does.

“Time is of the essence when we're dealing with endangered species lost and the political process is fairly slow in general to respond,” said Jonathan Choquett, lead biologist for Wildlife Preservation Canada.

The last sighting of a Massasauga Rattlesnake at the Ojibway Prairies was back in 2019. Choquett feels action is necessary to help in the recovery of the species.

“The quicker we can increase that protection and remove threats the more likely we are to reduce extinction risk of our endangered species locally.”