Ontario’s Environmental Commissioner to Assess Local Environmental Issues
TORONTO, June 22, 2004 – Environmental Commissioner Gord Miller will be in the Fort Frances area for the next two days, June 23 and 24, 2004, in order to learn firsthand about the environmental efforts of local residents, including First Nations and industry groups. “I am very interested in the unique ecology of this area,” said Commissioner Miller, “and I am also extremely impressed by the efforts of local groups to protect this distinctive environment.”
As the Environmental Commissioner of Ontario (ECO), Miller monitors compliance by Ontario’s provincial ministries with the Environmental Bill of Rights, and presents his findings each year in annual reports to the Ontario Legislature.
On Wednesday, the Commissioner will tour Rainy Lake with the Rainy Lake Conservancy, whose programs to protect the lake’s rare species include compiling an inventory of local flora and fauna. The next day, Miller will meet with the Rainy River First Nations to learn about some of the group’s environmental and stewardship programs, such as their lake sturgeon fish hatchery initiative and their efforts to protect the globally rare prairie oak savannah. Later that day, Commissioner Miller will visit the Abitibi Consolidated pulp and paper mill to learn more about the company’s air emissions and waste-control systems. The ECO’s advisory committee, also in Fort Frances to attend their biannual meeting with the Commissioner, will accompany him on his fact-finding environmental tours.
John Ferguson, also from the office of the Environmental Commissioner, will give a public presentation about Ontario’s Environmental Bill of Rights and the role of the ECO at the Fort Frances Museum on Wednesday, June 24th at 7 p.m.
For more information, please contact our Communications Coordinator at (416) 325-3371 or by e-mail at media@eco.on.ca.