Ocean Week Canada 2022 Launches!
Canadian Ocean Literacy Coalition and partners announce Ocean Week Canada 2022 and a national summer celebration of ocean engagement and marine conservation
March 30, 2022
Victoria, BC — Today, the Canadian Ocean Literacy Coalition (COLC), together with 14 national partner organizations, announced a pan-Canada educational and conservation celebration that will kick off during Ocean Week Canada (3-12 June 2022) and continue with events and activities throughout the summer.
Ocean Week Canada 2022 and the ‘Ocean Festival’ will be an exciting way for all Canadians to engage with the ocean. It will create a surge of awareness about the ocean and strengthen our appreciation of the waterways that connect us, inland to the sea. The celebration will engage over 3 million Canadians through in-person and virtual events at local, regional, and national scales. Cultural and educational programming for schools, science centres, museums, public libraries, and other community spaces will include, for example, a travelling Canadian Geographic ocean-themed giant floor map with Ocean School’s augmented reality experiences, video collections from Indigenous Water Guardians and coastal communities, and interactive installations like the Sacred Journeys exhibit.
The Ocean Festival officially kicks off on June 8, World Ocean Day, as part of Ocean Week Canada 2022. Over the following three months and beyond, Canadians will learn about the importance of the ocean and the sustainable use of it. The festival will strengthen Canadians’ connections to their local watersheds and Canada’s coastline—the longest in the world—and inspire community-based action to ensure a healthy ocean for future generations. The festival will celebrate Indigenous-led, community, government, and private sector conservation success stories and help to build momentum towards reaching Canada’s conservation targets of protecting 30% of marine and coastal waters by 2030.
The networks, events, and resources developed beginning with Ocean Week Canada 2022 will lay a foundation of ocean awareness for the forthcoming global gathering at the Fifth International Marine Protected Areas Congress (IMPAC5) in Vancouver. Ocean Week Canada’s annual programming from 2022 to 2030 will ensure a legacy of continued engagement by Canadians throughout the United Nations Ocean Decade.
The Ocean Week Canada and Ocean Festival partnership, led by the COLC in collaboration with the IMPAC5 Secretariat, incorporates 14 diverse organizations/institutions from across Canada and is made possible through a contribution of $2.3 million from the Government of Canada through the Oceans Management Contribution Program. These partners include Ocean Networks Canada, Canadian Geographic, Canadian Museum of Nature, Ingenium, Indigenous Leadership Initiative, Parks Canada, Students on Ice Foundation, Ocean School (a collaboration of the National Film Board of Canada and Dalhousie University), Water Rangers, the Canadian Network for Ocean Education, Hakai Institute, the Early Career Ocean Professionals (ECOP) Canada, Entremission, and Media Style. To learn more about Ocean Week Canada and the Ocean Festival, visit www.oceanweekcan.ca
Quotes
“Canada’s oceans connect us all and are a vital part of our past, present, and future as Canadians. Restoring and regenerating them for future generations is a goal we can only achieve by working together. That’s why I am so proud to announce $2.3M through the Government of Canada’s Oceans Management Contribution Program to support the Canadian Ocean Literacy Coalition and its many organizations, networks, and communities that are working together to better understand and advance ocean literacy in Canada. With such exciting and meaningful initiatives on the agenda for 2022, I look forward to joining forces to help educate millions of Canadians about the importance of valuing and protecting our oceans.”
The Honourable Joyce Murray, Minister of Fisheries, Oceans and the Canadian Coast Guard
“Our connections with land, freshwater, coastal areas, sea ice, and the open ocean are deeply shaped by our diverse experiences. When we share, strengthen, and celebrate our relationship with the ocean and local waterways, and come together to conserve and protect what we care about, we ensure a healthy ocean for future generations. This is the core mission of our national collaboration.”
Dr. Diz Glithero, National Lead, Canadian Ocean Literacy Coalition
“At the 5th International Marine Protected Areas Congress (IMPAC5) in Vancouver, Canada, the world’s foremost ocean conservation leaders and professionals will meet to chart a course towards protecting 30% of the global ocean by 2030. For Canadians, Ocean Week Canada and the Ocean Festival will create a wave of excitement as we celebrate our universal connection to the ocean and learn more about how it sustains us. The Ocean Festival will inspire us to support Canada’s efforts to protect precious marine ecosystems—from the unique glass sponge reefs in British Columbia to the globally important narwhal habitat in Nunavut.”
Sabine Jessen, Executive Director, IMPAC5 Secretariat
“In 2022, Ocean Week Canada and the Ocean Festival will provide unprecedented opportunities for Canadians to appreciate the critical role that our ocean plays in the health of the planet and the protections necessary to ensure a sustainable ocean future for all. As we launch into the UN Ocean Decade, Ocean Networks Canada, an initiative of the University of Victoria, will contribute to the project through the creation of toolkits and planning of local and national events together with our partners from coast-to-coast-to-coast.”
Dr. Kate Moran, President, Ocean Networks Canada
“Canadian Geographic is pleased to bring innovative educational and engagement tools to this important collaboration to make Canada’s enormous ocean better known to Canadians and the world.”
John Geiger, CM, CEO, Canadian Geographic.
“Our research and national collections provide critical evidence of changes to Canada’s marine biodiversity over time. We want to ensure this knowledge, as well as our public-engagement expertise, supports the festival and the COLC in inspiring Canadians to care about the importance of a healthy ocean to the health of the planet.”
Meg Beckel, Canadian Museum of Nature President and CEO.
“The Indigenous Leadership Initiative is a proud partner in this national collaboration and the special attention paid to featuring and learning from Indigenous-led ocean and water conservation and stewardship by Indigenous Guardians.”
Valerie Courtois, Director, Indigenous Leadership Initiative
“Ingenium is proud to collaborate with so many amazing partners to tell the Canadian story of how innovation and technology contributes to our better understanding and appreciation of our oceans. Supporting the critical work advancing ocean literacy in Canada through this new education and conservation celebration is an exciting way to support our mission.”
Lisa Leblanc, Director General of the Canada Science and Technology Museum, one of three national museums under the Ingenium brand
“The Students on Ice Foundation is delighted to contribute to this important and timely national project, a curated video collection of coastal community stories as shared by community members on themes of culture, livelihoods, and marine conservation.”
Geoff Green, President, Students on Ice Foundation
“Many of us who don’t live near the ocean don’t realize how we’re connected to it. Water Rangers is excited to support this project and celebration, encouraging all of us to learn about and get involved in ocean protection!”
Kat Kavanagh, Executive Director, Water Rangers
“The vision of ECOP Canada is to elevate and strengthen the diverse perspectives of new generations of ocean professionals in a collective voice, ensuring that knowledge is transferred between experienced and early-career ocean professionals. The Ocean Festival is an amazing opportunity for ECOPs across the country to be meaningfully engaged in the Canadian Ocean landscape.”
Neha Acharya-Patel, Co-Chair, Early Career Ocean Professionals Canada
“The Tula Foundation’s Decade Regional Collaborative Center and Hakai team are excited to be a part of this coalition to get more Canadians engaged with the oceans that support and surround us.”
Hakai Institute and Decade Collaborative Center for the Northeast Pacific Ocean
“The Canadian Network for Ocean Education (CaNOE) is thrilled to participate in this collaboration and help to deliver these ocean learning opportunities across Canada to spark greater awareness and advance ocean literacy.”
Audrie-Jo McConkey, Co-Chair, Canadian Network for Ocean Education
Quick Facts
- The Canadian Ocean Literacy Coalition (COLC) is an alliance of organizations, networks, institutions, communities, and individuals working together to better understand and advance ocean literacy in Canada. COLC operates as an independent national project office with an administrative home at Ocean Networks Canada. COLC led the national study, Understanding Ocean Literacy in Canada (2019-2020), providing the first baseline of ocean literacy in Canada. COLC launched Land, Water, Ocean, Us: A Canadian Ocean Literacy Strategy on March 16, 2021, a co-developed National Strategy in which over 3,000 Canadians and 400 organizations participated.
- Led by COLC, and in collaboration with the IMPAC5 Secretariat, Ocean Week Canada and the Ocean Festival project partners include: Ocean Networks Canada; Canadian Geographic; Canadian Museum of Nature; Ingenium; Indigenous Leadership Initiative; Students on Ice Foundation; Ocean School (a collaboration of the National Film Board of Canada and Dalhousie University); Parks Canada, Water Rangers; Canadian Network for Ocean Education; Hakai Institute; Early Career Ocean Professionals (ECOP) Canada; Entremission; and Media Style.
- The world’s top ocean conservation leaders and professionals will meet at the Fifth International Marine Protected Areas Congress (IMPAC5) in Vancouver, Canada to chart a course towards protecting 30% of the ocean by 2030. IMPAC5 is an opportunity for the global community of marine conservation leaders, managers, and practitioners to exchange knowledge, experience, and best practices to strengthen the conservation of marine biodiversity and protect the natural and cultural heritage of the ocean.
- The Government of Canada is investing $2.3 million over two years in the Canadian Ocean Literacy Coalition and its team of national partners to advance engagement with Canadians and awareness of Canada’s oceans and marine conservation through education and outreach. This funding through the Oceans Management Contribution Program will help support national-scale events such as the pan-Canada Ocean Festival and other ocean-related activities.
Media Contacts:
Meghan Callon
Communications & Graphic Design Lead, Canadian Ocean Literacy Coalition
meghan@colcoalition.ca | 519-501-3027
Media Relations
Fisheries and Oceans Canada
Media.xncr@dfo-mpo.gc.ca |613-990-7537
Ben Stanford
Communications Manager
IMPAC5 Secretariat
Benjamin.stanford@dfo-mpo.gc.ca | 604-347-8754