As a result of their deliberations committees may make recommendations which they include in their reports for the consideration of the House of Commons or the Government. Recommendations related to this study are listed below.

Recommendation 1

The House of Commons Standing Committee on Natural Resources (the committee) recommends that the Government of Canada work with industry, civil society, research institutions, Indigenous governments and communities, and provincial, territorial, municipal and/or international governments to strengthen Canadian capacity to prevent, mitigate and/or adapt to regional pests by:

• a)  Continuing to enhance border protection against foreign invasive species and to promote preventative and/or proactive outbreak management practices, such as the Early Intervention Strategy to combat the spruce budworm in Atlantic Canada;
• b)  Expanding federal research on invasive species, including the mountain pine beetle, especially with regards to their impacts in new host environments and other factors related to ecological and/or climate change;
• c)  Providing long-term financial and/or policy support, where necessary, according to the stated needs of regional governments and forest managers, including municipalities and Indigenous governments and communities;
• d)  Coordinating a central reporting and information-sharing system to allow forest managers access to the same outbreak management data nationwide;
• e)  Offering educational and training opportunities to forest managers, as needed, in communities and jurisdictions with inadequate outbreak management capacity;
• f)  Investing in research and expertise to bring forward Indigenous knowledge of forest land and resource management;
• g)  Strengthening citizen awareness and engagement through public outreach campaigns that aim to promote and normalize risk-reduction practices;
• h)  Encouraging the adaptation of regional harvesting and reforestation policies, according to new ecological realities and science-based evidence on climate change, to ensure the diversity and sustainability of both urban and rural forests; and
• i)  Including specific research and support for municipalities to deal with invasive insects and diseases, recognizing the social, environmental and economic value of urban forests.

Recommendation 2

The committee recommends that the Government of Canada convene a meeting with provincial, territorial and Indigenous governments, as well as the Federation of Canadian Municipalities to develop a co-ordinated national strategy to deal with invasive insects and diseases, including their impact on the urban forest.