Canadian Resilience, Grassroots Campaigns and Biosecurity Policy: Navigating Ecological and Economic Risks from New Invasive Species Through Soil-Focused Advocacy

Abstract

Invasive species can create compounding risks to the resilience of Canadian ecosystems, agricultural productivity, and native biodiversity, introducing cascading impacts across forests, provincial parks, and the forestry sector that can complicate efforts regarding our national climate carbon commitments. Utilizing a mixed-methods approach that combines case study analysis of recent grassroots campaigns with a critical review of Canadian biosecurity legislation, this research explores the systemic barriers that impede rapid responses to new invasive species threats. Investigating whether citizen-led advocacy can successfully model a traction-gaining framework for future environmental campaigns, the emergence of invasive jumping worms in Canada becomes our primary case study. While biological invasions pose recognized threats to Canadian ecosystem services, agricultural productivity, and the resilience of natural habitats, governing bodies often experience delays in active response. Grassroots initiatives often serve as early-warning systems and vital educators for local populations, yet such agility is frequently undervalued. Conversely, formal policy frameworks are often constrained by administrative lag and structural silos that hinder rapid responsiveness—ultimately creating regulatory and policy gaps that allow high-risk invasive species to proliferate unchecked. To evaluate how grassroots initiatives can catalyze regulatory change, this study combines a literature-informed risk assessment of jumping worms—examining their taxonomy, locomotive traits, fecundity, and lack of natural predators—with an analysis of their potential impacts on urban agriculture, forestry, nature-based tourism, and northern boreal peatland carbon dynamics. By combining scientific evidence with strategic policy interventions, including targeted correspondence with decision-makers and custom graphic asset mobilization, the project demonstrates how a citizen-led campaign introduced an environmental issue to the policy agenda. These findings confirm that specific outreach tactics—in tandem with grassroots mobilization—provide a viable, replicable framework for future environmental advocacy and biosecurity policy development. Ultimately, the research highlights that safeguarding Canada's soil health and ecological integrity requires an adaptive policy framework that values public participation as a supportive component of national environmental security.