Eco funding

The Ontario Ministry of the Environment has offered up additional funding for grassroots organizations looking to protect the provinces Great Lakes.

Officials with the ministry gave a demonstration Thursday at the provincial building on Red River Road on how local groups could apply for the Great Lakes Guardian Community Fund. The program provides up to $25,000 per project for not-for-profit groups such as clubs, environmental groups and scout troops.

Projects would centre on restoring and protecting the Great Lakes as well as the St. Lawrence River Basin.

Ellen Mortfield, executive director for Ecosuperior, said she was excited to hear that this funding would become available because it has been a while since the province has come out with a new funding initiative for grassroots groups.

“It’s right in our ballpark to help Lake Superior and it creates lots of opportunities,” Mortfield said. “Options for funding are getting more and more limited. Ecosuperior like many others are project based so we don’t get funding to keep the roof over our heads. It’s a real asset for the government to be able to offer this.”

Mortfield said they many existing programs that could benefit from the funding by expanding those programs in Thunder Bay and in the region. She said she would rather do that than create a whole new program that does something similar to one that already exists.

The ministry proposed in June the Great Lakes Protection Act. The act would ensure great lakes in Canada don’t degrade further and maintained or upgraded them if there are problems.

The act would then establish a Great Lakes Guardians Council chaired by environment minister Jim Bradley and include other ministers, municipal representatives, First Nations members, people from the agriculture sector and scientists.

Mortfield said Ontario always had a commitment to the environment and the act offers community groups more options in trying to protect the provinces Great Lakes.

Barb McMurray, project manager with the Ministry of the Environment, said the funding has about $1.5 million available and that applications will be accepted until Oct. 12.

“The Great Lakes basin as well as the St. Lawrence River basin is really important to Ontarians,” McMurray said. “They’re important for drinking water, for quality of life and prosperity here in Thunder Bay. People love the lakes and the area around it so it’s important to keep it healthy.”

Anyone who wishes to apply for the grant can do so online at the Ministry of the Environment’s website.