Energetic volunteers showed up in numbers to Iona Beach Regional Park in Richmond with one goal in mind: to do their part in cleaning up our oceans.
The Great Canadian Shoreline Cleanup, Canada’s largest community-led, volunteer conservation cleanup program celebrated its’ 25th anniversary Saturday. The event in Richmond is one of four across Canadian cities, which includes Halifax, Ottawa and Toronto.
Over the decades, Shoreline Cleanup participants have cleaned almost 34,000 kilometres of shoreline, picking up almost 1.3 million kilograms of litter along ocean coastlines.
Larry Grant, an Elder from the Musqueam tribe welcomed volunteers with open arms to the beach prior to start time.
READ MORE: B.C. cities vote to keep plastics out of oceans, nix single-use items
Catherine McKenna, Minister of Environment and Climate Change provided welcoming remarks, adding that next week, Halifax will be hosting the G7 Summit focussed on oceans.
“We have a plastics charter that really addresses the problem of plastics in the ocean from the very begginning” said McKenna.
“We need to reduce the number of single-use plastics that we use.”
@kieranroconnor
kieran.oconnor@bpdigital.ca
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