Canada will host premier oceans conference in Halifax next year

Canada will host the Our Ocean Conference in Halifax in 2027 — the first time the world's premier ocean action gathering comes north of the border.

Federal Fisheries Minister Joanne Thompson announced the news Monday on World Ocean Day. The conference, launched in 2014 by then-U.S. secretary of state John Kerry, has become a fast-moving voluntary commitments forum — a departure from the slow grind of negotiated treaties.

"The health of the ocean, which is conservation and sustainability, is also linked to the reality of our fisheries – which are linked to who we are as a country, to the socioeconomic reality of our coastlines and our Indigenous communities," Thompson said. "We can do both, and we must do both."

The numbers are impressive. The conference has generated over 2,900 commitments worth more than $228 billion, with about 80 per cent completed or under way. Governments have driven the most action, accounting for 61 per cent of commitments. Canada has pledged $1.06 billion total, including $800 million in Indigenous-led conservation initiatives (2022) and $162 million to support resilient coastal communities (2018).

For Halifax, the timing is strategic. The city is Canada's ocean supercluster — home to offshore wind research, renewable energy, carbon sequestration research, marine conservation, and coastal fisheries institutions. Shannon Miedema, Liberal MP for Halifax, called it a natural anchor for the conference.

Canada has identified four priority themes for 2027: the blue economy and ocean-dependent communities; Indigenous and community leadership in ocean protection; ocean observation and climate services; and sustainability in the high seas.

The challenge is real. Currently, only about 8.4 per cent of the global ocean is protected. Canada projects marine protection reaching 28 per cent of its waters by 2030 — close to, but short of, the 30 per cent target under the Global Biodiversity Framework. An estimated 42 per cent of implemented marine protected areas globally have been announced at Our Ocean Conferences, showing the forum's outsized influence.

Susanna Fuller, vice-president of conservation at Oceans North, sees the conference as a leverage point: "This is a huge opportunity for Canada to demonstrate that it's very serious about a sustainable ocean — that includes protected areas, sustainable industries, and Indigenous rights and advancing conservation in the Arctic."

The 11th conference precedes it in Mombasa, Kenya, June 16–18, making Halifax the natural next global stage for ocean action.