VANCOUVER, B.C.— One of Canada’s most important environmental laws, the federal Species at Risk Act (SARA), is also one of its most litigated.
In the thirty-two years since SARA was enacted, Ecojustice has secured an impressive record in mounting cases that help ensure SARA achieves its lofty legislative goals of ensuring the survival and recovery of our nation’s most endangered species.
Mark up another important victory with a recent test case aimed at forcing federal decisionmakers to respect SARA requirements for species that find themselves at the brink.
In Ecojustice’s latest win, Western Canada Wilderness Committee v. Canada (Environment and Climate Change) (2024 FC 870), the Federal Court has affirmed that once the Environment Minister has formed the opinion a species is facing “imminent threats to its survival or recovery”, they cannot delay in recommending to Cabinet that an emergency protective order be made.
Justice Yvan Roy held it was unlawful for Environment and Climate Change Minister Steven Guilbeault to have waited eight months to recommend emergency action after determining in January 2023 that logging in old growth areas threatened the endangered spotted owl.
In a recent interview published in Law360 Canada, Prof Tollefson called Justice Roy’s ruling “careful and important” and one that “safeguards Parliament’s intent with respect to the emergency order power”.
A former Ecojustice board member and President, Tollefson says he is proud of Ecojustice’s record of litigating to protect species and biodiversity, particularly under SARA.
According to Tollefson, the SARA provision at the centre of this case is “pivotal” – and the question raised by Ecojustice was one of “first instance”. Justice Roy’s judgment ensures, in Tollefson’s view, that “the purpose of the legislative architecture” is not undermined through discretion or delay.
Read the Law 360 article here.
