OTTAWA, Ont., July 3, 2019 – New federal assessment finds that Canadian provinces and territories have dropped the ball when it comes to protecting the critical habitat of our most threatened and endangered species.

The assessment reviews the provincial and territorial laws of all provinces and territories impacting the habitat of more than 200 threatened or endangered plants and animal species where the critical habitat has been identified. While the reviewers found that some jurisdictions could use existing tools to protect critical habitat, in no cases do the existing provincial laws provide similar protection as would be afforded the species on federal lands under the Species at Risk Act (SARA).

“What we see today is that there are still big gaping holes across the country when it comes to protecting the homes of our species at risk,” says Florence Daviet, National Forest Program Director at the Canadian Parks and Wilderness Society (CPAWS).

The assessment also does not consider how well, if at all, the existing provincial tools are being used to protect any portion of the critical habitat, leaving the reader with the feeling that species’ habitat is generally not being protected anywhere in Canada. Loss of habitat is the number one reason for species becoming threatened or endangered. The critical habitat is habitat identified by scientists as key to the survival or recovery of that species.

“This is in an initial report,” says Ms. Daviet, “to fully understand the situation on the ground, more work is needed to understand the details.”

The assessment is the first to be done by the federal government and, despite the bad news for threatened and endangered species, is an important step forward for the protection of species at risk in Canada. In 1996, the provinces and territories recognized the importance of protecting habitat and agreed to put in place laws to protect species at risk on their lands, leaving the federal species at risk act to act on federal lands and as a backstop for emergencies.

“Transparency is vital. It’s not possible now for anyone to pretend that we have it all covered in Canada. Provinces and territories are falling down on their jobs. It’s time to get serious about species protection,” says Ms. Daviet. This is the first of a series of biannual reports which will continue to track the critical habitat that is not protected, and the steps being taken to protect it.

“The best-case scenario is that every six months we start seeing the provinces and territories developing a habit of protection, taking real steps to address these gaps until we have protected the homes of these threatened plants and animals,” she adds.  The current report, however, doesn’t make any promises about future actions to be taken, leaving the reader to wonder how long this habitat will continue to remain unprotected.

In the past few years, a growing number of municipalities, indigenous communities, and private individuals have been turning to the federal government for help. “They are worried about the wildlife and biodiversity in their communities and want strong laws to protect the lands and species around them. The provincial laws just aren’t doing the job, and so they are turning to the federal government and SARA for help,” says Alain Branchaud, Executive Director of CPAWS in Quebec (SNAP Québec).

In response the increasing concern by Canadians regarding nature protection, the federal government has made a large investment advancing species at risk protection in Canada, both by committing to do this assessment, and through a “nature fund” where they allocated 200 million dollars to helping provinces and territories implement habitat protection in their jurisdictions. But the task is huge and urgent.

CPAWS is committed to supporting the protection of species at risk habitat across Canada and the continued improvements in transparency on species at risk protection in Canada.

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Contact
Florence Daviet
National Forest Program Director, CPAWS
fdaviet@localhost | Office 613-569-7226 ext. 220

Historical context
In May of 2018, CPAWS and the federal Minister of Environment, Catherine McKenna, agreed on the need to develop and publicize these ongoing assessments on the state of critical habitat protection. In a joint press release, the government announced its intent to publish the first comprehensive report in June 2019.

About Canadian Parks and Wilderness Society
The Canadian Parks and Wilderness Society (CPAWS) is Canada’s only nationwide charity dedicated solely to the protection of our public land, ocean and freshwater, and ensuring our parks and protected areas are managed to protect nature. In the past 56 years, we have played a leading role in protecting over half a million square kilometres – an area bigger than the entire Yukon Territory! Our vision is to protect at least half of Canada’s public land and water in a framework of reconciliation – for the benefit of both wildlife and humans.