Feds fight ruling on protection of killer whales’ habitat
Posted December 4, 2011 7:06 pm.
This article is more than 5 years old.
OTTAWA (NEWS1130) – The federal government continues to fight a year-old court ruling that it has not done enough to protect the critical habitat of BC’s southern resident killer whales.
The Federal Court of Appeal has given Ottawa until the end of the year to explain why it is should not have to adhere to the 2010 ruling that it must do more to protect the whales’ habitat, in accordance with the Species At Risk Act.
Margot Venton with Ecojustice, which provides legal representation for the environmentalists, says the Act obliges Ottawa to address issues of salmon availability, water pollution, and noise from marine traffic.
“If protection of critical habitat is a choice, then it’s a choice that very sadly will often be made in a way that sacrifices protection of habitat,” she says. “You know, these are politically difficult decisions.”
Ottawa has suggested it can protect the whales through a section of the Fisheries Act instead, but Venton says that section allows for destruction of habitat as long as it is authorized.
“We need them to clarify,” Venton says. “Are they saying that they couldn’t, as in that it would be impossible for them to destroy habitat [under the Fisheries Act], or are they saying that we should just trust them because they never would do that, in which case the dispute continues.”
The feds have until the end of December to submit their written arguments to the three justices who will rule on the case, and then Ecojustice lawyers will have 30 days to submit theirs.
