Our story
The Western Canada Wilderness Committee was founded in BC in 1980, and is now the largest membership-based, citizen-funded wilderness preservation organization in Canada. We are passionate about saving wilderness and wildlife, and in all of our work we are inspired and informed by the wild places we seek to protect.
Across the country, the Wilderness Committee has more than 30,000 members and an additional support base of 30,000 donors. We maintain offices in four provinces and an on-the-ground presence in many Canadian communities. It is the combined voices of our thousands of supporters, in partnership with our dedicated board, staff, and volunteers that has allowed the Wilderness Committee to campaign successfully to protect millions of hectares of Canadian wilderness in over 40 key wilderness areas.
How We Work
Underlying our work is a belief that we have the duty, the ability, and the right to stand up for the public interest and protect Canada's and Earth's biodiversity. We believe that when people know about Canada's threatened wilderness and wildlife they will act too. We reach out to 12 million people each year through door-to-door canvasses, educational publications, rallies and events, and the media. Our educational mission is supported by a strong research and mapping program, strategic alliances with other environmental groups, First Nations and community leaders, and regular expeditions into threatened wilderness areas.
Current Programs
Our programs focus on five priority areas:
- Protecting Canada's Wild Lands
- Safeguarding Canada's Wildlife
- Defending Public Lands
- Keeping the Pacific Coast Wild
- Supporting Healthy Communities
Successes
Our campaigns have helped gain the protection of many important wilderness areas, including critical wildlife habitats and some of the world's last large tracts of oldgrowth temperate rainforest and boreal forest. Notable achievements include playing a key role in gaining protection for South Moresby - Gwaii Hanas(BC), Caribou Mountains Park(AB), South Atikaki(MB), Carmanah Valley(BC), Pinecone/Boise/Burke(BC), Manigotagan River(MB), Stein Valley Nlaka’Pamux(BC), Sooke Hills(BC) and the designation of Clayoquot Sound(BC) as a United Nations Biosphere Reserve and many other areas (over 40 wild places in 28 years in Western Canada).
In addition to our successful campaigns to protect wilderness, we have set significant legal precedents through successful litigation which stopped logging in Wood Buffalo National Park and Greater Victoria's drinking watershed; established that no logging roads should be built without approved logging permits; guaranteed public access to crown lands; and, most recently, afforded critically endangered species' habitat protection from logging under BC's Forest Practices Code. Amongst our research achievements are the establishment of the world's first upper-canopy temperate rainforest research station and our Conservation Vision mapping project that resulted in the call for protecting 40% of B.C.'s land base in order to save sufficient biodiversity.
