Warm beaches, shining sun, refreshing waves… Summer in Canada is a great time to enjoy and learn more about the ocean! With over 243,000 km of ocean coastline, there are plenty of opportunities for Canadians to connect with the ocean, rivers and estuaries all around us.
Many IMPAC5 partners have organized fun and exciting summer events to promote ocean literacy and help Canadians learn more about blue nature. Check out the pictures and videos below to discover the many ways our partners are encouraging Canadians and visitors alike to appreciate the ocean!
Ocean Week Canada 2022 was an epic wave of events and engagement across the country with more than 75 partners and 105 events in 10 days! Ocean Week Canada is an annual national celebration of ocean events, learning, and engagement held during the week of World Ocean Day (June 8) that is led by the Canadian Ocean Literacy Coalition (COLC). Learn more at www.oceanweekcan.ca.
Video credit: Meg Callon
Ottawa-based and internationally recognized artist, Christine Fitzgerald led a public workshop at the River Institute in Cornwall, Ontario on July 6, bridging historical photography methods with river health indicators science. The workshop was part of Ocean Week Canada’s extended ‘Ocean Festival’ unique to summer 2022 in the lead up to IMPAC5. Read a recent article on Christine’s work in the Washington Post.
Photo credit: Meg Callon
The premiere of an acrobatic performance created by Geneviève Dupéré, an artist and doctoral candidate at UQAM dedicated to connecting people to the St. Lawrence River through powerful art-science fusion. The live performance took place on July 22 in Montreal, as one of the featured Ocean Week Canada / Ocean Festival events. View all events here and visit the Artist Hub.
Photo credit: Meg Callon
The Ocean, Freshwater, and Us giant floor map and accompanying augmented reality app, Ocean Canada, was activated at the Canadian Museum of Nature on August 27th as part of World Water Week celebrations.
Photo Credit: Meg Callon
From July 14-17, a number of organizations along the Pacific Coast, including Parks Canada, hosted Whale Blitz events in collaboration with Ocean Wise. Whale Blitz events are a great opportunity to connect communities with nature and to contribute to important citizen science efforts to cetacean sightings networks in British Columbia and Washington State. This year 22 cetacean sightings were submitted over 8 events!
Photo credit: Parks Canada
Have you heard of the Whale Trail? The Whale Trail is a network of shore-based locations where you can watch whales and other marine mammals along the Pacific Coast. In June, Parks Canada launched a new Whale Trail location at Fort Rodd Hill and Fisgard Lighthouse National Historic Sites. Enjoying shore-based marine mammal viewing is one way we can help keep the ocean quiet for endangered species like the Southern Resident Killer Whale. Learn more and explore the Whale Trail!
Photo credit: Parks Canada
This summer you can find the Parks Canada Southern Resident Killer Whale outreach team at marinas, docks and parks in the Vancouver area and on Vancouver Island. They are talking to recreational boaters about protection measures on the water like remembering to give whales space. Learn more about actions you can take to help protect killer whales!
Photo credit: Parks Canada
This ocean-inspired mural was painted by Ocean Hyland of the Tsleil-Waututh Nation for the Vancouver Mural Festival (August 4-14) in partnership with CPAWS and IMPAC5. The festival also included another mural inspired by Marine Protected Areas, created by Jessie Recalma of the Qualicum First Nation and Shoshannah Greene of the Haida Nation in partnership with CPAWS. Both murals will remain up at Canada place and 1111 West Hastings St. until after IMPAC5 in February 2023.
Photo credit: Parks Canada
Dr. Diz Glithero, ocean literacy researcher and National Lead of the COLC, presented at the Ocean Literacy Dialogues event as part of the United Nations Ocean Conference in Lisbon, Portugal in late June. The second OL Dialogues event will be taking place in Brazil in October 2022 and COLC, in collaboration with IOC-UNESCO, will be co-hosting the third OL Dialogues event at IMPAC5 in February 2023.
Photo credit: Meghan Marrero
