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While the U.S. Congress was busy last year trying to
dismantle its 23-year-old Endangered Species Act, the Sierra
Club of Canada was pushing its national government to draft
endangered species legislation for the first time. Within
the next few months, the Cabinet will deliberate on that
proposed legislation, and the Sierra Club of Canada is
urging members to send cards and letters to key Cabinet
ministers to ensure they pass an effective and comprehensive
law.
The fight to save Canada's estimated 8,000 at-risk species
got a jump-start in 1992 when Canada became the first
industrialized country to sign and ratify the United Nations
Convention on Biodiversity. In signing the treaty, the
federal government committed to "develop or maintain
necessary legislation and/or regulatory provisions for the
protection of threatened species and populations."
The provinces got first crack at developing legislation and
came up with the Canadian Biodiversity Strategy, which
placed the protection of biodiversity in the hands of
provincial governments, but didn't contain any deadlines or
commit to passing any legislation. The Sierra Club of Canada
spoke out against this piecemeal approach because wildlife
does not respect provincial boundaries.
In 1994, the Sierra Club of Canada helped form the Canadian
Endangered Species Coalition to push for national
legislation ensuring minimal protection of at-risk species
and habitats. Responding to coalition pressure, Sheila
Copps, then Canada's minister of environment, announced the
federal government's intention to develop and pass
endangered species legislation and released a draft in
August 1995. However, environmentalists savaged the draft
because it proposed protecting only those species found on
federal lands south of the 60th parallel - roughly 4 percent
of the land area in Canada. The habitat of most endangered
species would not be protected.
The Canadian government is now working on a second draft.
"This time," says Tom Nichols, conservation chair of British
Columbia's Lower Mainland Group, "we're hoping the
government addresses species in need, regardless of whether
they live on federal lands."
If the act does not include private lands, says Nichols, the
agricultural and urban development will continue to encroach
on natural habitat at the rate of roughly 240 hectares
(almost one square mile)every minute. According to a report
released by Environment Canada, more than 130 of the
nation's 177 identified land-based regions are at
significant risk of losing biodiversity, including original
tallgrass prairie, British Columbia's old-growth Douglas fir
forest, the Carolinian forests of southern Ontario and the
Atlantic coast. Government spending cutbacks are also a real
and immediate concern as adequate funding may not be in
place to ensure species recovery or to protect the large,
interconnected wilderness areas required for their survival.
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