Antigonish Butterflyway Project

The Butterflyway Project is a resident led movement creating and advocating for vital pollinator habitat across Canada.

In 2017, David Suzuki Foundation initiated the Butterflyway Project, and its sister L’effet Papillon campaign in Quebec, in five Canadian cities. This volunteer-led movement brings nature home to neighbourhoods, one butterfly-friendly garden at a time.

From inception to 2022, the foundation trained 1,200 Butterflyway Rangers in hundreds of communities across Canada. Rangers then connected with neighbours to create habitat gardens in residential yards, school and corporate grounds, boulevards and parks. When 12 or more patches are established, a new Butterflyway is born.

Here is a summary of Ranger accomplishments up to 2022:

• 89,000 native wildflowers and grasses planted
• 6,500 pollinator patches established
• 75 Butterflyways established

The Butterflyway Project is based on our Homegrown National Park Project, an award-winning project that created butterfly-friendly corridors in three Toronto neighbourhoods from 2013 to 2015. In 2020, the Butterflyway Project received the Canadian Museum of Nature’s Nature Inspiration Award. Project popularity surged in 2021, with 1,000 Canadians applying to become Butterflyway Rangers. Demand remained high in 2022, with another 1,000 applicants.