Lakehead Professor Wins Unique Ontario Environmental Bill of Rights Decision

(Thunder Bay - October 24, 2005) The Ontario Ministry of the Environment has approved the application from Lakehead University Professor Dr. Tom Puk to have the Ministry of Education prescribed to the Environmental Bill of Rights (EBR).

"In 1998, the Government eliminated the only discrete subject matter we had in secondary schools that focused on environmental science," says Dr. Puk, whose expertise focuses on outdoor ecological and experiential education. "In order to put increased pressure on the current government to create a provincial curriculum for ecological literacy that all students would take on a daily basis, I proceeded with this initiative. This decision will allow for public input. Our ecological systems are being seriously degraded and we need to make sure everyone is ecologically literate in order to prevent severe repercussions in the near future."

While this has been a long process, starting with his initial application being turned down in 1999, Dr. Puk continued working towards the goal of having the Ministry of Education included in the EBR. In the Fall of 2004, Dr. Puk organized the Ontario Provincial Roundtable for Curriculum, the Ecosphere, and Life, and was able to invite eight independent associations from Southern Ontario to join the Roundtable and provide their support for this application. Various boards of education such as the Toronto District School Board and the Waterloo Region District School Board as well as the Ontario Association of Public School Boards passed motions in support of this application.

The EBR requires each prescribed Ministry to develop a Statement of Environmental Values. Dr. Puk's application was unique in that he was asking for a new Ministry to fall under the EBR.

"I hope to be able to pressure the Ministry of Education to create a provincial curriculum that would require all students in Kindergarten to Grade 12 receive daily ecological literacy. Currently there is no provincial curriculum that does this," Dr. Puk says.

Dr. Puk's research studies (the first co-authored with a Lakehead U Master of Education student and the second with a PhD student) have demonstrated that ecological literacy is not being encouraged in Ontario schools at a time when many international studies are demonstrating that our global ecosystems are being seriously degraded. Just this week, it was reported that once again Canada ranks near the bottom (28^th out of 30) OECD countries in terms of 29 key environmental indicators. He also hopes to convince the Ontario Government to develop a policy that would ensure that all citizens are lifelong ecologically literate.