Environmental Action Committee

Meeting #:
Date:	Tuesday, March 03, 2020
Time:	9:30 A.m. - 11:30 A.m.
Location:	Civic Centre, 2nd Floor Committee Room A 300 City Centre Drive, Mississauga, Ontario, L5B 3C1

Members

• Councillor Matt Mahoney, Ward 8 (Chair)
• Councillor Stephen Dasko, Ward 1 (Vice-Chair)
• Councillor George Carlson, Ward 11
• Chelsea Dalton, Citizen Member
• Pujita Verma, Citizen Member
• Shazerah Qureshi, PEYA (Peel Environmental Youth Alliance) Student
• Carina Suleiman, UTM (University of Toronto Mississauga) Student
• Joel Longland, Partners in Project Green
• Andrea Rowe, Greening Sacred Spaces (Non-Voting Member)
• Brad Butt, Mississauga Board of Trade (Non-Voting Member)

Members Absent

• Brad Bass, Citizen Member
• Lea Ann Mallett, Citizen Member
• Alice Casselman, Association for Canadian Educational Resources
• Melanie Kramer, Credit Valley Conservation
• Britt McKee, Ecosource

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1.

CALL TO ORDER

9:31AM

2.

APPROVAL OF AGENDA

Approved (C. Suleiman)

3.

DECLARATION OF CONFLICT OF INTEREST

Nil.

4.

MINUTES OF PREVIOUS MEETING

4.1

Environmental Action Committee DRAFT Minutes – February 4, 2020

Approved (J. Longland)

5.

DEPUTATIONS

5.1

Katherine Morton, Manager, Planning Strategies and Melanie Zakarian, Statistician, Planning Strategies to present on the Census Hub

      Demo Reel of the Census Hub Web Page -  www.mississauga.ca/censushub

Ms. Zakarian presented on Mississauga's Census Hub provided an  interactive demo reel on the Mississauga Census Hub (www.mississauga.ca/censushub) that consisted of an overview on the 2016 Census Results that focused on population, demographics, households, family status, languages, ethno-cultural, income, labour force, education and transportation. 

Dianne Zimmerman, Manager of Environment inquired when the next census would occur. Ms. Zakarian responded by stating that next census would be conducted in 2021; every five (5) years Statistics Canada conducted census surveys. The City of Mississauga will be compiling the information to update the census hub in order to do a growth comparison over the years.

• RECOMMENDATION EAC-0006-2020

  That the deputation and associated presentation by Melanie Zakarian, Statistician, Planning Strategies with respect to the Census Hub be received for information. 

  Received (P. Verma)

  Received

5.2

John MacKinnon, Natural Areas & Million Tree Program Coordinator, Woodlands & Natural Areas to present on the 2019 One Million Trees Review

Mr. MacKinnon provided a 2019 overview on the One Million Trees Mississauga program. The volunteer program takes place during the spring and fall seasons. In 2019 the program consisted of 114 planting events, which involved 5012 Volunteers planting 13,594 Native Trees and Shrubs. A number of community, corporate, school, internal staff and public groups participated in these planting events as well as stewardship events. The goal is to plant one million trees by 2032, which would require 50 000 trees to planted annually. By the end of 2019 a total 380 597 trees have been planted in the City of Mississauga.

 

Members of the Committee spoke to the matter and raised the following questions and comments;

• Suggested to circulate the program information to the Members of the Committee to share with their networks;
• Inquired if a follow up is done on the sites where the trees were planted;
• Inquired about the survival rate of the trees planted; and
• Inquired if the trees are only planted on City property.

Mr. MacKinnon responded to the questions from the Members of the Committee;

• Tree planted sites are monitored by trimming, pruning and adding woodchips, if needed as well as the City tracks the width of the canopy and the morality of the trees.
• The survival rate of the trees planted is approximately 78% overall, however depending on the site; the survival rate could be 100%.
• Currently the program only plants on city-owned property, however working towards partnering with major land-owners to plant on corporate grounds. If a resident or corporation plants their own trees on their own property, this information can be entered online to count towards the One Million Trees target.

• RECOMMENDATION EAC-0007-2020

  That the deputation and associated presentation by John MacKinnon, Natural Areas & Million Tree Program Coordinator, Woodlands & Natural Areas with respect to the 2019 One Million Trees Review be received for information. 

  Received (J. Longland)

  Received

5.3

Diana Suzuki-Bracewell, Supervisor, Environmental Outreach and Heliya Babazadeh-Oleghi, Environmental Outreach Coordinator to present on the 2020 Earth Days

Ms. Babazadeh-Oleghi presented on the 2020 Earth Days noting there will be two weeks of events for the community to get involved and make the city "Green".  From April 13 to 26, 2020 the City will be hosting a number of events at the local libraries, conducting 20 minute makeovers, a variety of recycling drives and participating in various one million trees planting. 

Shazerah Qureshi, Student Member noted that Ramadan begins during the two weeks of the 2020 Earth Days events. She suggested to be mindful of those participating in the Earth Day events who may celebrate Ramadan. 

• RECOMMENDATION EAC-0008-2020

  That the deputation and associated presentation by Heliya Babazadeh-Oleghi, Environmental Outreach Coordinator with respect the 2020 Earth Days be received for information. 

  Received (S. Qureshi)

  Received

5.4

Pujita Verma, Environmental Action Committee Member to present on the Adopt-A-Park Participation

Ms. Verma spoke to the Committee regarding the member’s participation with the Adopt-A-Park Litter Clean-up program.  Ms. Verma outlined the priorities associated with the clean-ups and proposed a selection of dates for 2020.

Members of the Committee spoke to the matter and decided on the following proposed dates:

• At 10AM on Saturday April 18, 2020 at R.K. McMillan Park along the banks of the Cooksville Creek;
• Saturday August 22, 2020 at 10AM – location to be determined; and
• Saturday October 17, 2020 at 10AM – location to be determined.

 

Councillor Carlson noted that he may suggest a second date in April as he usually partakes in a clean-up during the spring months. One of the members requested to clean-up at parks that provide bike parking.

• RECOMMENDATION EAC-0009-2020
  1. That the deputation and associated presentation by Pujita Verma, EAC Member with respect to the Adopt-A-Park Initiative be received for information.
  2. That the Environmental Action Committee selected the proposed dates of April 18, August 22, and October 17, 2020 at 10:00AM to participate in the Adopt-A-Park Clean-Up Program.
     1. That the April 18, 2020 Adopt-A-Park Clean Up be located at the R.K. McMillan Park along the banks of the Cooksville Creek from Lakeshore Road to Lake Ontario.
     2. That the locations of the August 22 and October 17, 2020 proposed Adopt-A-Park Clean-up dates be determined at a future date. 

  Received (C. Suleiman)

  Received

6.

PUBLIC QUESTION PERIOD - 15 Minute Limit 

Pursuant to Section 42 of the Council Procedure By-law 0139-2013, as amended:

Environmental Action Committee may grant permission to a member of the public to ask a question of Environmental Action Committee, with the following provisions:

1. The question must pertain to a specific item on the current agenda and the speaker will state which item the question is related to.
2. A person asking a question shall limit any background explanation to two (2) statements, followed by the question.
3. The total speaking time shall be five (5) minutes maximum, per speaker.

No members of the public requested to speak at this time.

7.

MATTERS TO BE CONSIDERED

7.1

Environmental Action Committee (EAC) Work Plan

Dayna Obaseki, Legislative Coordinator spoke to this item noting a number of members stated that they would prefer a deputation to be made to General Committee outlining the Environmental Action Committee’s progress and achievements.

 

Shazerah Qureshi and Carina Suleiman, Student Members have volunteered to be the presenters. They also provided an overview to the Committee on a draft presentation they created. Staff will work with Ms. Suleiman and Ms. Qureshi to present a draft presentation at the May EAC meeting to gather feedback from the Members. The Committee decided that a presentation by the Members will take place on June 10, 2020 to General Committee.

• RECOMMENDATION EAC-0010-2020
  1. That Carina Suleiman and Shazerah Qureshi, Environmental Action Committee Student Members have been selected to present on the Committee’s Progress and Achievements outlined in the Environmental Action Committee Work Plan to Members of Council at the June 10, 2020 General Committee.
  2. That the Environmental Action Committee Work Plan be approved as discussed at the March 3, 2020 Environmental Action Committee meeting.

  Approved (Councillor Dasko)

  Approved

8.

INFORMATION ITEMS

Nil.

9.

OTHER BUSINESS

Chelsea Dalton, Citizen Member noted that UTM (University of Toronto Mississauga) is hosting a campus-wide Sustainability Week from March 9 to March 13, 2020.  The week will consist of a variety of activities and include daily theme; Meatless Monday, Trashless Tuesday, Wellness Wednesday, Tech Thursday and Future Friday.

10.

ENQUIRIES

Nil.

11.

DATE OF NEXT MEETING

Tuesday, April 7, 2020 at 9:30am

Committee Room A, Civic Centre

300 City Centre Drive

Mississauga, ON  L5B 3C1

Tuesday, May 5, 2020 - 9:30am, Hearing Room 

12.

ADJOURNMENT

10:36AM (Councillor Carlson)