This petition seeks information on the federal ministerial recommendations and Cabinet decisions that have been made to protect the critical habitat of endangered or threatened migratory birds. It cites provisions in the federal 2002 Species at Risk Act that cover the protection of critical habitats for endangered and threatened migratory birds for federal and provincial lands and waters. The petition references the role of the Minister of Environment and Climate Change under the act in preparing a recovery strategy that identifies a species’ critical habitat once it has been listed as endangered or threatened.
The petition expresses concern that none of the 54 critical habitat orders in the public registry as of January 2021 apply to the critical habitats of migratory birds on provincial lands. The petition asserts that no ministerial recommendations or Cabinet decisions have been made to protect the critical habitat of a migratory bird on provincial land. According to the petition, the Minister should have taken action because at least 36 of the existing 51 endangered or threatened migratory birds listed under Schedule 1 of the act have final recovery strategies published. The petition states that the Minister should have published statements about these birds or made recommendations to Cabinet to protect their critical habitats on non-federal lands.
The petition requests clarification on how the Minister and his predecessors have fulfilled their obligations to protect the critical habitats of threatened and endangered migratory birds. It asks for a list of any migratory bird species for which ministerial recommendations or Cabinet decisions were made under section 58 of the act to protect the birds’ critical habitats on non-federal lands. The petition also seeks the list of migratory bird species for which the Minister determined under the act that a recommendation was not required to protect their critical habitats outside of federal lands. If no such action has been taken to protect migratory birds’ critical habitats on non-federal lands, the petition asks for an explanation as to why this has not been done.