CANADA ANNOUNCES MARINE SCIENCE SUPPORT

Canada announces marine science support. The Government of Canada has announced $12.6 million in funding over four years to Ocean Networks Canada (ONC), a national network of ocean observation systems based at the University of Victoria. This investment will strengthen high-quality, real-time data on our marine environment to support the work of scientists throughout Canada and around the world.

In particular, this investment will build on ONC’s ocean noise monitoring program and will expand its monitoring of sea surface currents in Pacific waters. This data will help inform our efforts to protect the endangered Southern Resident Killer Whale and will help make our oceans safer by improving navigation and emergency response.

Minister Wilkinson, on behalf of the Minister of Innovation, Science and Economic Development, the Honourable Navdeep Bains, also marked the official opening of the University of Victoria’s recently opened Ocean-Climate Building and highlighted the Government of Canada’s $3.5 million contribution from its Post-Secondary Institutions Strategic Investment Fund.

The program provides funding to help modernize facilities at Canadian universities and colleges, as well as improve their energy efficiency and reduce their impact on the environment. The new $9.5 million facility also includes investments of $5.15 million from the University of Victoria and $850,000 from the Province of British Columbia.

Minister Wilkinson also toured the nearly 30,000-square-foot building which provides an interdisciplinary, collaborative space for the University of Victoria’s ocean, climate change and data management research programs. It is now home to more than 200 researchers, co-op students, scientists and staff, who will conduct vital research into the effects of changing oceans and climate.

The upgraded and centralized facility will enable researchers and their partners to produce science, technology and evidence-based solutions that will bring social and economic benefits to Canada, such as furthering climate change adaptation practices and advancing the blue economy.