TREPA

Delay no more. That’s the clear, strong message the Federal Court sent late last week when it chastised the Canadian government for its chronic, unlawful delays in producing recovery strategies for our country’s vulnerable wildlife. The judgment, coming just six weeks after our Federal Court hearing, marks the successful end to one of the biggest endangered species lawsuits in Ecojustice history. The lawsuit challenged the federal government’s multi-year delays in producing recovery strategies for four species — the Pacific Humpback Whale, Nechako White Sturgeon, Marbled Murrelet and Southern Mountain Caribou. Justice Anne L. Mactavish wrote in her judgment:

It is … apparent that the delay encountered in these four cases are just the tip of the iceberg. There is clearly an enormous systemic problem within the relevant Ministries, given the respondents’ acknowledgement that there remain some 167 species at risk for which recovery strategies have not yet been developed.

This isn’t just a big win for the four species at issue in the case, but a victory for the rest of Canada’s wildlife struggling to survive.  The pressure’s now on the federal government to step up and find a way to produce meaningful recovery strategies for the 160+ species that still need them. Lawsuits like this one require a massive investment on the part of both our staff and supporters ….. Sean Nixon staff lawyer, Ecojustice