51 Elizabeth II, A.D. 2002, Canada

Journals of the Senate

2nd Session, 37th Parliament

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Issue 25 - Appendix "B"

Wednesday, December 4, 2002
1:30 p.m.

The Honourable Daniel Hays, Speaker

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Appendix
to the Third Report of the Standing Committee on
Energy, the Environment and Natural Resources

Your Committee acknowledges the importance of this legislative initiative to protect species at risk in this country and recognizes the decade of effort by many parties that have brought it to fruition.

Nevertheless, we firmly believe that passage of this legislation marks only one step in the work that needs to be done to adequately protect species at risk in this country. Future amendments to this legislation should address outstanding concerns and further strengthen it.

The legislation includes safety net provisions, under the terms of which the federal government will only take action to protect species at risk outside of federal lands if provincial or territorial legislation is ineffective in doing so. Your Committee urges the federal government to ensure that this authority is invoked in cases where the enforcement, and not just the existence, of provincial and/or territorial legislation is deemed to offer insufficient protection. Your Committee wishes the federal government to put adequate resources in place to ensure effective enforcement when the safety net provisions are invoked.

Your Committee believes that the federal government should establish and make public specific criteria that will be used to assess the adequacy of provincial/territorial actions. For example, since no province can take steps to protect any species it has not listed, your Committee believes that the Minister of the Environment should regard provincial failure to list a Committee on the Status of Endangered Wildlife in Canada (COSEWIC) listed species as the early warning sign of provincial/territorial inaction that should necessitate invocation of the federal safety net provisions.

Your Committee further recommends that, during the mandated five-year review of the legislation, detailed scrutiny of the operation and impact of the safety net provisions be conducted, as they are essential in ensuring the overall effectiveness of this legislation. In particular, the effectiveness of the legislation in protecting endangered transboundary species should be highlighted. In addition, your Committee recommends that at least two further five-year reviews be conducted.

In Bill C-5, the exercise of federal authority by the Governor-in-Council is discretionary when, in the opinion of the Environment Minister a species is not adequately protected by a province or territory. Your Committee recommends that, during the mandatory five-year review of this legislation consideration be given to making this a mandatory undertaking.

Bill C-5 provides for automatic listing (listing not subject to review by the Governor-in-Council) of species set out in Schedule 1 on the day that this legislation comes into force. As it stands, Schedule 1 only includes species assessed or reassessed by COSEWIC up to November 2001. It does not include the 31 species reassessed by COSEWIC in May 2002, the two species that were emergency listed in October 2002 or the 17 species reassessed in November 2002 (see attached list for greater certainty). Your Committee expects the Minister to add these species to Schedule 1 immediately upon proclamation of the legislation.

Your Committee believes that the government has a moral obligation to ensure that those who suffer economic losses from a prohibition on killing/harvesting an endangered species receive the same consideration with regard to compensation, as do those who suffer a loss as a result of having to protect the critical habitat of such a species.

With regard to compensation your Committee expects that the regulations developed to implement these provision of the legislation will encompass the following four principles:

1. Fair market value should be a starting point of the measure of compensation.

2. Monetary compensation may not always be the most appropriate form of compensation and other forms may be made available.

3. It is possible that the implementation of this legislation could cause a major disruption to a person's livelihood and reduction in their net worth. Consequently, no artificial limits should be placed on compensation.

4. Completing due diligence should not be a debilitating burden on farmers and other groups. The government must set out details of what tasks will satisfy due diligence requirements and take steps to ensure that the time and cost be fully compensated.

Your Committee recommends that either during the mandatory five-year review or earlier if deemed necessary, the government also review experience gained in the intervening years and consider the advisability of the following changes:

1. Add measures to ensure interim protection of critical habitat;

2. Introduce timelines for the completion of Action Plans;

3. Extend mandatory protection to transboundary species and their critical habitat;

4. Extend the scope of the legislation to prohibit the killing of a species at risk or destruction of its critical habitat everywhere in Canada.

Your Committee reminds the government that it already has responsibility for the protection of critical habitat for migratory birds under the Migratory Birds Convention Act and that responsibility must not be limited by this Act.

Your Committee requests that the Minister of Environment meet with the Committee one year from the tabling of this report to discuss progress on recommendations made herein.

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ATTACHMENT

31 Species reassessed at May 2002
COSEWIC meeting using new criteria

Endangered

Blue Whale Atlantic population balaenoptera musculus

Blue Whale Pacific population balaenoptera musculus

Screech-owl macfarlanei subspecies, Western otus kenniicottii macfarlanei

Blue Racer coluber constrictor foxii

Coho Salmon, Interior Fraser population oncorhynchus kisutch

Yucca Moth tegeticula yuccassella

Bird's-foot Violet viola pedata

Boreal Felt Lichen Atlantic population erioderma pedicellatum

Threatened

Grey Fox urocyon cinereoargenteus

Northern Ribbonsnake thamnophis sauritus

Great Basin Gophersnake pituophis catenifer deserticola

Stinkpot sternotherus odoratus

Eastern Spiny Softshell Turtle apalone spinefera

Channel Darter percina copelandi

Crooked-stem Aster symphyotrichum penanthoides

Lakeside Daisy hymenoxys herbacea

Wild Hyacinth camassia scilloides

Climbing Prairie Rose rosa setigera

Special Concern

Grizzly Bear ursus arctos

Woodland Caribou Northern Mountain population rangifer tarandus caribou

Screech-owl kennicottii subspecies, Western otus kenniicottii macfarlanei

Eastern Milksnake lampropeltis triangulum

Northern Ribbonsnake Great Lakes population thamnophis sauritus

Western Skink eumeces skiltonianus

Northern Map Turtle graptemys geographica

Northern Red-legged Frog rana aurora

Spring Salamander gyrinophiluls porphyriticus

Great Plains Toad bufo cognatus

Tuberous Indian-plantain arnoglossum plantagineum

Athabasca Thrift armeria maritime ssp. interior

Boreal Felt Lichen Boreal population erioderma pedicellatum

2 Species emergency listed in endangered category
by COSEWIC October 2002

Sockeye salmon Cultus Lake population Oncorhynchus nerka

Sockeye salmon Sakinaw Lake population Oncorhynchus nerka

17 Species reassessed at COSEWIC's November 2002 meeting

Endangered

Northern Bottlenose Whale (Scotian Shelf population) hyperoodon ampullatus

Salish sucker catostomus sp. Salvelinus fontinallis timagamienis

Benthic Enos Lake Stickleback gasterosteus spp.

Limnetic Enos Lake Stickleback gasterosteus spp.

Pugnose Shiner notropis anogenus

Northern Madtom noturus stigmosus

Speckled Dace rhinichthys osculus

Small-flowered Lipocarpha lipocarpha micrantha

Small-flowered Sand-verbena tripterocalyx micanthus

Threatened

Eastern Massasauga Rattlesnake sistrusrus catenatus catenatus

Common Hop Tree

White Wood Aster eurybia divaricata (aster divaricatus)

Van Brunt's Jacob `s Ladder polemonium vanbruntiae

Western spiderwort tradescantia occidentalis

Special Concern

Polar Bear ursus maritimus

Long-billed Curlew numenius americanus

Northern Leopard Frog Prairie population rana pipiens

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