The Canadian Museum of Nature has announced the winners of its national Nature Inspiration Awards for 2022. Among the recipients are a family doctor who champions a program that prescribes visits to parks for health reasons, an Indigenous-led program to rehabilitate a regional caribou population, a national podcast about birds and their conservation, and a social enterprise that introduces women and girls to sustainable fishing practices.

These annual awards, now in their ninth year, recognize individuals, businesses, and not-for-profits that show leadership, innovation and creative approaches to sustainability in order to connect Canadians with nature and the natural world.

For its absolute dedication to the preservation of birds and the popularization of ornithology, Birds Canada and its The Warblers podcast won the Nature Inspiration Award recipient in the large, not-for-profit category.

Birds Canada is truly the national voice for birds in our country. In July 2021, Birds Canada launched The Warblers, the first bird conservation podcast focusing on Canadian species.

The podcast has since been downloaded 63,000 times and has listeners in over 103 countries.

It’s now ranked in the top ten nature podcasts in Canada by Apple Podcasts. With an enthusiastic, growing audience in place, The Warblers is set to continue to innovate with a new series dedicated to species at risk.

WorkCabin Creative is the Editor of The Warblers podcast.

Birds Canada is a nonprofit charitable organization built on the enthusiastic contribution of thousands of caring supporters and volunteer citizen scientists.

For over 60 years, Birds Canada has worked to increase the understanding, appreciation and conservation of Canadian birds.

With national headquarters located in Port Rowan, Ontario, and regional offices from coast to coast, they offer a variety of products aimed at increasing bird awareness across Canada and the world.

The 2022 winners also include:

  • Melissa Lem, M.D., a family physician from Vancouver, British Columbia who has spearheaded with the BC Parks Foundation Canada’s first prescription program for nature;
  • Naila Moloo, a teen in Ottawa, Ontario, for innovative projects including the development of a special solar cell, and for advocating for the role of women and girls in STEM fields;
  • Fishing for Success, a community social enterprise in Petty Harbour, Newfoundland for its program that introduces women and girls to sustainable fishing practices;
  • Birds Canada, a not-for-profit in Port Rowan, Ontario for an innovative podcast about Canadian birds and related conservation issues;
  • Mériscope, from Portneuf-sur-Mer, Quebec for its marine-mammal research in the St. Lawrence estuary, and educational collaborations with universities
  • The Nikanese Wah tzee Stewardship Society in Moberly Lake, British Columbia, for its Indigenous-led program to rehabilitate the regional caribou population;
  • Cheekbone Beauty Cosmetics in St. Catharines, Ontario for its high-quality products that are vegan, cruelty-free, and inspired by the Anishnaabe roots of its founder, and;
  • Larry Halverson, from Invermere British Columbia, for his decades of leadership as a naturalist and wildlife educator, and as a champion for public engagement about nature.

The 2022 awards covered seven categories: Youth (aged 17 and younger), Adult, Not-for-Profit (small to medium), Not-for-Profit (large), Sustainable Business, Community Action and Lifetime Achievement.

Collage with images of 2022 Nature Inspiration Awards winners.View 

About the Canadian Museum of Nature

Saving the world through evidence, knowledge and inspiration! The Canadian Museum of Nature provides evidence-based insights, inspiring experiences and meaningful engagement with nature’s past, present and future. It achieves this through scientific research, a collection of 14.6 million specimens and artifacts, education programs, signature and travelling exhibitions, and a dynamic web site, nature.ca.