Sean ChaseCanadians are urged to do their part for the environment during National Tree Day which will be held on Wednesday, Sept. 26.
This year’s event will honour the memory and legacy of former Conservative MP for Ottawa-Orléans Royal Galipeau. In 2011, the Parliament of Canada passed Galipeau’s private member’s motion declaring the Wednesday of National Forest Week as National Tree Day. Galipeau was a devoted Conservationist who planted 52,000 trees, himself, over his lifetime and another 23,000 with his family. He passed away on Jan. 27, 2018 at the age of 71.
National Tree Day is set aside for all Canadians to celebrate the many benefits trees provide including clean air, connecting with nature and preserving wildlife habitat. The event is sponsored by Tree Canada, the nation’s leading national tree planting charity. Since 1992, Tree Canada has joined with communities, companies, governments at all levels and citizens in planting more than 82 million trees. In addition, the charity has aided those communities devasted by natural disasters and promoted greener solutions for major urban centres. Last year, Tree Canada invested more than $1 million restore forests destroyed by the Fort McMurray wildfires as part of its Operation ReLeaf initiative. Tree Canada has a proud history in this regard coming to the aid of communities hit by the Saguenay, floods in 1996, the great Eastern Canada/Western Quebec ice storm in 1998 and Hurricane Juan in Nova Scotia in 2003.
Every year, Tree Canada delivers mass plantings in each of Canada’s five major regions. This year, five communities will be hosting major tree planting events: Winnipeg, Manitoba, Montreal, Quebec, St. John’s, Newfoundland and Labrador, Markham, Ontario, and Coquitlam, British Columbia.
Tree Canada also supports a national greening program which sees seedlings grown on a mass scale across the country. The organization also targets areas where there is a need for reforestation or afforestation due to human activity or other causes.
For more information on National Tree Day, visit the Tree Canada website at treecanada.ca.
