For environmentalists, Ojibway Shores 'needed to be saved'

CEA in the News

McKenzie elected new chair of ERCA board

Taylor Campbell - Windsor Star / Updated January 24, 2020

The Essex Region Conservation Authority elected a new chair for its board of directors Thursday night during its annual general meeting packed with awards for environmentalists of all ages.

Windsor city Coun. Kieran McKenzie was unanimously chosen to complete the city’s current two-year stint at the head of the board of directors. McKenzie fills the seat vacated by Irek Kusmierczyk, who was elected as Liberal member of parliament for Windsor-Tecumseh in October.

“I look forward to working with you to make the decisions that will ultimately affect our children, our grandchildren, and our great grandchildren as we strive to create a future of environmental sustainability in this region,” McKenzie said to the more than 100 people present at the Essex County Civic and Education Centre. “We know that a health economy, healthy citizens and a healthy environment are linked together and what helps to make our region the place for life.”

McKenzie has been on ERCA’s board of directors since he was elected to represent Windsor’s Ward 9 in 2018.

“This year was a tipping point in the recognition that urgent action is needed to address climate change, and that building our communities and conducting our daily actions in the same old way is no longer an option,” he said. “Through this board, at this time, we must move forward together to implement with urgency the climate actions required to create a future of sustainability for our region.”

During a presentation of the ERCA Conservation Awards at the meeting, the City of Windsor was recognized for making outstanding contributions to environmental sustainability.

“We continue to make huge investments,” said Windsor Mayor Drew Dilkens, who accepted the award with city councillors and fellow board members McKenzie, Ed Sleiman and Jim Morrison. “We take pride in our environment in the city. We recognize that things are changing around us that our forefathers couldn’t contemplate.”

In 2012, Windsor was the second city in Canada to adopt a Climate Adaptation Plan, and this year it launched a followup. Among other things, the city’s Sewer Master Plan, Active Transportation Master Plan, and significant support for an increased local tree canopy were also noted as reasons ERCA chose Windsor for the Robert Pulleyblank Award for Environmental Achievement.

Ric Coronado, founder of the Citizens Environment Alliance and longtime environmental crusader, was posthumously given the Individual Environment Achievement Award. Coronado died in August at age 78. His son, Derek Coronado, accepted the award on his behalf.

“My father’s life reminds me that human life can be short, it can be fragile, but it can also be filled with environmental activism, and it should be,” Derek Coronado said. “I’m very proud of my father’s environmental activism.”

He added he hoped to see a “successful conclusion” to some of the projects his father was unable to complete, “including the full protection of Ojibway Shores in Windsor.” Dilkens reaffirmed the city’s commitment to protecting untouched riverfront property during his moment at the mic.

In its 2019 annual report, ERCA highlighted several of the organization’s accomplishments last year, including planting more than 57,000 trees, educating 14,000 students through outdoor programs, and hosting more than 100,000 visitors at conservation areas and greenways.