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Media Release

Explore innovative approaches to challenges facing North American waterside communities

Join our citizen advisory committee’s meeting in-person in Charlottetown, or online via webcast

Montreal, 29 May 2017—On 27 June, the Commission for Environmental Cooperation’s (CEC) Joint Public Advisory Committee (JPAC) will host a public meeting in Charlottetown, Prince Edward Island, Canada, on water-related issues and opportunities to promote sustainable job growth and economic prosperity in coastal, shoreline, and riverbank communities across North America.

Register to participate in-person or via webcast at: www.cec.org/Council2017. Limited financial assistance is available for travel and lodging and may be requested (via the online registration form) before 31 May 2017.

Rivers, oceans, estuaries and lakes play a vital role in the well-being of numerous North American communities who depend on them for jobs, food and leisure. At the JPAC forum, members of the public will convene with experts from nongovernmental organizations, government, academia and industry to discuss innovations that could lead to the increased resilience of these communities.

The meeting will draw on success stories from all three countries, highlighting the  economic and social ties to the water of large and small communities in Canada, Mexico and the United States.

Speakers at the forum’s sessions include:

  • Robert Mitchell, Minister of Communities, Land and Environment, Government of Prince Edward Island
  • Dora Patricia Uribe Jiménez, Secretaría General, Cozumel Island
  • Eric Moraczewski, Executive Director, Gateway Arch Park Foundation

The JPAC forum is being held in conjunction with the 24th Regular Session of the CEC’s governing Council, which is composed of the cabinet-level environment ministers from Canada, Mexico and the United States. Participation at the CEC Council Session and JPAC forum is open to the public and free of charge.

The JPAC forum will be webcast in English, French and Spanish at www.cec.org/webcast and transmitted on Facebook Live.

CEC Council Session in Charlottetown

About the CEC

The Commission for Environmental Cooperation (CEC) was established in 1994 by the governments of Canada, Mexico and the United States through the North American Agreement on Environmental Cooperation, a parallel environmental agreement to NAFTA. As of 2020, the CEC is recognized and maintained by the Environmental Cooperation Agreement, in parallel with the new Free Trade Agreement of North America. The CEC brings together a wide range of stakeholders, including the general public, Indigenous people, youth, nongovernmental organizations, academia, and the business sector, to seek solutions to protect North America’s shared environment while supporting sustainable development for the benefit of present and future generations

The CEC is governed and funded equally by the Government of Canada through Environment and Climate Change Canada, the Government of the United States of Mexico through the Secretaría de Medio Ambiente y Recursos Naturales, and the Government of the United States of America through the Environmental Protection Agency.

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