Promoting a World Heritage Site designation for the boreal forest straddling the east side of Lake Winnipeg and northwest Ontario is on the agenda as Conservation Minister Stan Struthers travels to Quebec City on Friday to meet with Ambassador Gilles Laurin, Canada’s permanent delegate to the United Nations Educational, Scientific and Cultural Organization (UNESCO).

 

“Giving this internationally important boreal area a World Heritage Site designation will yield both economic and cultural benefits to remote First Nation communities and ensure the environmental protection of a wealth of forests, lakes and wildlife habitat,” said Struthers.

 

Struthers will be joined by representatives of Pimachiowin Aki, a non-profit corporation made up of four First Nations and the Manitoba and Ontario governments.  Pimachiowin Aki is led by First Nations and together the board and staff have been working for just over a year to develop an application for the UNESCO designation due in 2011.

 

“The meeting this week in Quebec is a valuable opportunity to share information about the Pimachiown Aki World Heritage project.  Minister’s Struthers’ continued support is key to the success of this initiative,” said Gord Jones, Pimachiowin Aki project manager.

 

The area involves about 40,000 square kilometres and includes traditional territories of the Little Grand Rapids, Paunigassi, Pikangikum and Poplar River First Nations.  It also includes Atikaki Provincial Park in Manitoba and Woodland Caribou Provincial Park in Ontario.

 

The project has already generated considerable international interest since the site would fill an identified gap in the World Heritage Site system of protected areas and because it proposes an innovative approach to land management that combines traditional Anishinabe and western scientific knowledge.

 

The site combines natural and cultural features.  It has exceptional ecological value with extensive undisturbed forests, lakes and wetlands that reflect unique geological processes and represent critical habitat for several threatened or endangered species including woodland caribou, bald eagles and wolverines.  The site also represents an outstanding example of traditional Aboriginal life based on a close and enduring relationship to the land.  Archeological evidence in the area attests to over 5,000 years of habitation by the Anishinabe people.