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Past Presidents’ Canadian Legislator Award

Richard Cannings

THREE-TERM MEMBER OF PARLIAMENT, RETIRED BIOLOGIST

Richard Cannings

South Okanagan-West Kootenay, B.C.

In December 2021, Cannings introduced a private member’s bill to establish a new Canadian Environmental Bill of Rights to enshrine the right to live in a healthy and ecologically balanced environment.

MOTIVATION

I’ve always been interested and concerned about environmental and conservation issues, and I got into politics to provide an informed voice from the environmental sciences in Parliament.

INFLUENCES

My parents, Steve and Jean Cannings, were keen naturalists and conservationists; they were “environmentalists” back in the early 1960s before anyone was using that term. So it’s literally part of my DNA. As a family we would go on weekly hikes, drives and picnics that all centred on learning about the natural world — watching birds, photographing flowers, fishing. My parents would point out the unique and endangered wildlife in the desert grasslands and dry forests of the Okanagan Valley where we lived. I also single out my Grade 12 biology teacher, Harold Baumbrough, who focused my interest in nature.

Past Presidents’ Canadian Legislator Award

The Past Presidents’ Canadian Legislator Award was established in 1988 by former heads of the Canadian Wildlife Federation. This award is presented annually to an elected provincial, territorial or federal legislator in recognition of a significant contribution to the conservation of wildlife in Canada.