The Canadian Environmental Sustainability Indicators (CESI) program provides data and information to track Canada's performance on key environmental sustainability issues. The Municipal wastewater treatment indicator measures the level of wastewater treatment provided to the Canadian population. Higher levels of wastewater treatment reduce the risk of pollutants from raw wastewater reaching the environment, where they pose risks to human and environmental health. This indicator is not a measure of municipalities' compliance with municipal, provincial or federal wastewater regulations or treatment standards. Information is provided to Canadians in a number of formats including: static and interactive maps, charts and graphs, HTML and CSV data tables and downloadable reports. See the supplementary documentation for data sources and details on how those data were collected and how the indicator was calculated.

Waterfowl and mammals harvested and trapped at various locations in the oil sands region and in reference locations are assessed for contaminant burdens and toxicology. Wildlife samples are obtained from local hunters and trappers. Tissue samples are analysed for concentrations of oil sands-related contaminants (heavy metals, polycyclic aromatic hydrocarbons, and naphthenic acids). Dead and moribund birds collected from tailing ponds are also evaluated for levels and effects of contaminants.

The objectives of the fish component of the integrated oil sands monitoring program are to provide the necessary data/information to address key questions related to both environmental health of fish populations and fish health issues that can be used to inform human use and consumption. The questions underlying the fish monitoring design are related to the status and health of wild fish populations in the Lower Athabasca River including and in an expanded geographical extent. Data is being collected to provide a baseline against which future changes in fish populations will be evaluated, and compared to data from historical studies to assess change over time to the current state. Data is also being collected in areas of new oil sands development, to develop baseline data for future site-specific comparisons, contribute to an expanded geographic basis of the overall monitoring plan, and contribute to an improved ability to examine cumulative effects.

Water quality and ecosystem health data collected using a risk-based monitoring approach to support the Great Lakes Water Quality Agreement are included in this dataset. By conducting regular, systematic measurements of the physical, chemical and biological conditions of the Great Lakes Environment and Climate Change Canada (ECCC) is able to: measure the natural changes and conditions of water quality; determine changes over time, at various locations, of water contaminants and/or threats; support development of science-based guidelines for water, fish, and sediment; identify emerging issues and threats; track the results of remedial measures and regulatory decisions; report and assess science results through performance indicators and in an Open Science environment to support an ecosystem approach to environmental and resource management in the Great Lakes. Data are collected by Environment and Climate Change Canada to meet federal commitments related to the Great Lakes as transboundary waters crossing, inter- provincial and international borders under the authorities of the Department of the Environment Act, the Canada Water Act, the Canadian Environmental Protection Act, 1999 and the Boundary Waters Treaty including the commitments under the Canada-United States Great Lakes Water Quality Agreement.

Environment and Climate Change Canada’s cause-effect monitoring is focused on understanding how boreal songbirds, including several Species at Risk, are affected by human activity in the oil sands area, particularly the impact of the physical disturbance of forested habitats from exploration, development and construction of oil sands. Determining the abundance of songbird species associated with various habitat type(s) and understanding how the type and number of birds varies with type and amount of habitat, are important components of assessing the effect of habitat disturbance. Regional-scale monitoring focuses on understanding how and why boreal songbirds, including several Species at Risk, are affected by human activity across the Peace, Athabasca and Cold Lake oil sands area. Local-scale projects focus on addressing gaps in our understanding of complex response patterns at regional scales by targeting specific habitats or development features of interest. These data contribute to: a. improving the design of monitoring programs; b. explaining observed trends in populations (why bird populations are increasing or decreasing); c. predicting population sizes within the oil sands area; and d. assessing the individual, additive and cumulative effects of oil sands and other resource development on boreal birds. Data are used by ECCC and our partners to develop new models and increase the robustness of existing models of bird responses to habitat and disturbance. Because models can be used to predict outcomes of future land management scenarios, these models can assist decision-making by helping evaluate land-use choices before impacts are directly observed.

Monitor variations in seabird numbers and colony size in the St. Lawrence system. Survey of over 20 species of seabirds and herons during the breeding season, in order to monitor population dynamics through time and space. Seabird populations are influenced by food abundance and quality. There is actually more than 1,000,000 birds from more than 20 different species that breed in nearly 1,000 active colonies. Plongeon du Pacifique/Pacific Loon/Gavia Pacifica, Plongeon catmarin/Red-throated Loon/Gavia stellata, Macareux moine/Atlantic Puffin/Fratercula arctica, Guillemot à miroir/Black Guillemot/Cepphus grylle, Guillemot marmette/Common Murre/Uria aalge, Guillemot de Brünnich/Thick-billed Murre/Uria lomvia, Petit Pingouin/Razorbill/Alca torda, Mouette tridactyle/Black-legged Kittiwake/Rissa tridactyla, Goéland marin/Great Black-backed Gull/Larus marinus, Goéland argenté/Herring Gull/Larus argentatus, Goéland à bec cerclé/Ring-billed Gull/Larus delawarensis, Mouette rieuse/Common Black-headed Gull/Larus ridibundus, Sterne caspienne/Caspian Tern/Sterna caspia, Sterne pierregarin/Common Tern/Sterna hirundo, Sterne arctique/ArcticTern/Sterna paradisaea, Sterne de Dougall/Roseate Tern/Sterna dougallii, Océanite cul-blanc/Leach's Storm-Petrel/Oceanodroma leucorhoa, Fou de Bassan/Northern Gannet/Morus bassanus, Grand Cormoran/Great Cormorant/Phalacrocorax carbo, Cormoran à aigrettes/Double-crested Cormorant/Phalacrocorax auritus, Eider à duvet/Common Eider/Somateria mollissima, Grand Héron/Great Blue Heron/Ardea herodias, Bihoreau gris/Black-crowned Night-Heron/Nycticorax nycticorax.

The generation of geospatial thematic information for managing and monitoring Canada's boreal ecosystem is essential for researchers, land managers, and policy makers. Canada's boreal region is a vast mosaic of forests, wetlands, rivers and lakes, but anthropogenic disturbances have impacted these ecosystems resulting in habitat loss, fragmentation and threats to biodiversity. Across Canada various geospatial datasets representing anthropogenic disturbance exist for timber harvesting, hydro-electric activity, settlement and oil & gas activities; however, these products often vary in scale, attributes, time period, and mapping technique. Driven by the need for national data as part of the 2011 boreal caribou science assessment, a standardized methodology was developed and implemented to create a single geospatial dataset representing anthropogenic disturbances across a significant portion of Canada’s boreal ecosystem. The boreal ecosystem anthropogenic disturbances (BEAD) data is a vector disturbance dataset of individual linear and polygonal disturbance types that were manually collected through the interpretation of 2008 to 2010 Landsat imagery at a 1:50,000 viewing scale. Summary results identified a total polygonal anthropogenic disturbance footprint of approximately 24 million ha with forest cutblocks accounting for more than 60 % of mapped polygonal disturbance. Linear disturbance features across the boreal total approximately 600,000 km with roads and seismic exploration lines contributing to more than 80 % of the mapped linear disturbances.

The Canadian Environmental Sustainability Indicators (CESI) program provides data and information to track Canada's performance on key environmental sustainability issues. The Water availability in Canada indicator compares the amount of fresh water withdrawn from rivers for human use to the volume of water in Canadian rivers. Information is provided to Canadians in a number of formats including: static and interactive maps, charts and graphs, HTML and CSV data tables and downloadable reports. See the supplementary documentation for data sources and details on how those data were collected and how the indicator was calculated.

The Canadian Environmental Sustainability Indicators (CESI) program provides data and information to track Canada's performance on key environmental sustainability issues. The Phosphorus levels in the offshore waters of the Great Lakes indicator reports total phosphorus levels in the offshore waters of the 4 Canadian Great Lakes. A lake's phosphorus status is determined by comparing spring total phosphorus levels to its water quality objectives and the health of the lake's food web. Failure to meet a water quality objective for phosphorus suggests a greater risk to the health of the lake ecosystems. Information is provided to Canadians in a number of formats including: static and interactive maps, charts and graphs, HTML and CSV data tables and downloadable reports. See the supplementary documentation for data sources and details on how those data were collected and how the indicator was calculated.

Sediment profile imagery (SPI) (also known as REMOTS (Rhoads and Germano, 1982)) facilitates the assessment of the biophysical processes that occur in the benthic environment through the acquisition and analysis of high resolution images of vertical sections and surfaces of the seafloor. The SPI apparatus incorporates the use of a 12-megapixel Digital SLR camera to obtain in situ photographs of the first 20 cm of the seafloor. Because the sediment is not disturbed in the process, SPI photographs provide information on the physical and biological components of the seabed that is not readily available using traditional methods. From 2012 to 2019, 17 SPI datasets were acquired at 13 disposal at sea sites in British Columbia to monitor the environmental conditions of the sea floor. SPI & surface photographs, tabular data, and a geodatabase with attachments are provided in zipfolders for each study.