Teck Partners with Vancouver Aquarium to Support Water Strategy
(Pictured above, from left: Don Lindsay, President and CEO, Teck; John Nightingale, President and CEO, Vancouver Aquarium; Colin Hansen, MLA, Vancouver – Quilchena; The Honourable James Moore, Minister of Canadian Heritage and Official Languages.)
As part of our company-wide water strategy, we are providing a $12.5 million donation to the Vancouver Aquarium, supporting its expansion as well as enhanced research, conservation and education programs focused on water in areas near our operations.
The Vancouver Aquarium is internationally recognized for the global impact and quality of its research and conservation programs. This partnership between Teck and the Vancouver Aquarium will become a central component of our water strategy, linking our research programs and experts with the Aquarium’s to create a hub for exchanging information and best practices. It will enhance knowledge and aquatic stewardship with a focus on areas where we operate such as the Elk Valley, Trail and the Southern Interior in British Columbia, Northwest Alaska and Chile.
Partnering with the Vancouver Aquarium aligns with our commitment to sustainability and our focus on water quality and conservation. We will be identifying opportunities to collaborate on research of mutual interest and to support community initiatives related to water conservation near our operations.
Opportunities identified to date include:
- Leveraging the Aquarium’s expertise to assist with the design and construction of facilities and exhibits in communities near our operations, such as the potential Columbia River Heritage and Science Centre in Trail, B.C.
- Establishing a research network to share field data and observations from our sites with the Aquarium and its partner institutions. Data may include marine mammal surveys from our Red Dog operation, fish health data from the Elk Valley and baseline data on marine life in Northern Chile.
- Partnering with the Aquarium in its efforts to bring back threatened frog species by supporting the reintroduction of frogs bred by the Aquarium at wetlands near our operations and helping monitor their recovery.
- Working together to create a new water education program entitled Teck Water Drops. This program will explore the connection we all have to water, highlight the roles we play in using and conserving it, and share the impacts water has on our natural world.
- Launching initiatives to expand the Aquarium’s education and outreach programs to our employees and communities where we operate, such as expanding the Teck Water Drops program to provide locally-relevant information on water and conservation in those areas.
- Providing employees and community members in areas where we operate with the opportunity to visit and volunteer in the Aquarium’s touring AquaVan exhibit.
As part of the expansion, the Aquarium’s new central entrance gallery welcoming visitors – expected to open in May 2014 – will be named the Teck Connections Gallery. Each year, nearly one million people visit the Aquarium, with about 45% coming from outside the Lower Mainland. Visitors to the Aquarium will experience larger and more stimulating animal habitats, new public spaces and new galleries to allow for changing exhibits.
This new partnership with the Vancouver Aquarium is one of the ways we are addressing sustainability challenges within the regions in which we operate and around the world. To learn more about our commitment to sustainability, please visit www.teck.com/sustainability. To learn more about the Vancouver Aquarium, visit www.vanaqua.org.
(Photo above courtesy of John Heil.)