Wild animal and plant trade and protection act 2017 annual report: chapter 4

4. Compliance promotion and enforcement of CITES and WAPPRIITA

4.1. Compliance promotion

Environment and Climate Change Canada (ECCC) works in partnership with a broad range of enforcement partners to secure compliance with WAPPRIITA. These partners include the Canada Border Services Agency, Fisheries and Oceans Canada, Transport Canada, the Royal Canadian Mounted Police, provincial and territorial law enforcement bodies and conservation authorities, as well as the United States Fish and Wildlife Service. ECCC is also an active partner on the international stage in promoting and verifying compliance with the Convention on International Trade in Endangered Species of Wild Fauna and Flora (CITES).

Compliance with the Wild Animal and Plant Protection and Regulation of International and Interprovincial Trade Act (WAPPRIITA) is verified by various means, such as reviewing permits, auditing importers’ and exporters’ declarations, conducting inspections at ports of entry, conducting routine or spot inspections of wildlife businesses, sharing information with border officials and other national and international agencies, gathering intelligence, and following up on tips provided by the public.

4.1.1. Compliance promotion activities

In 2017, ECCC continued to promote compliance with CITES and WAPPRIITA through more than 20 displays located at various venues, including airports, science centres, customs offices, zoos and border crossings as well as Digital Display Network (visual communication tool which runs a continuous “loop” of messaging related to Government of Canada programs and services) located in the Service Canada Centres and Passport Offices across Canada. This included working with the Toronto Zoo to create a new CITES exhibit, anticipated to be completed in 2018.

The purpose of CITES displays is to educate and inform Canadians about the impacts of the illegal wildlife trade, and the plant and animal species they cannot bring into the country without a CITES import permit.

ECCC also undertook targeted activities to promote awareness of new CITES requirements resulting from the 17th Conference of the Parties held in 2016. This included sending fact sheets to affected Canadian industries to inform them of CITES requirements for rosewoods (Dalbergia) and bubinga (Guibourtia) which are commonly used to make products such as furniture, musical instruments and flooring. Fact sheets were also sent to zoo, aquarium, pet industries and interest groups to inform them of new CITES permit requirements when importing, exporting, or traveling internationally with African grey parrots.

ECCC promoted compliance with its new one-year salamander import restriction to the pet industry, zoos, and aquariums. Activities included social media messages, mail outs, fact sheets distributed at pet industry trade shows, and cross promotions through Pet Industry Joint Advisory Council of Canada (PIJAC) newsletters.

Fire salamander Photo: © Getty Images

Fire salamander
Photo: © Getty Images

4.1.2. Enforcement activities

Illegal trade in wildlife threatens the conservation of species and the socio-economic benefits that legal trade in wildlife can provide. Poaching and trafficking undermines conservation efforts to manage populations, for example, through use of quotas (maximum number of specimens that can sustainably be removed from the wild population). Populations of species may be decimated by over-exploitation driven by illegal trade.

Wildlife trafficking worldwide has been increasing in value since 2005. There is now clear recognition in the international community that the issue of the illegal wildlife trade has reached significant global proportions. Illegal wildlife trade and environmental crime involve a wide range of flora and fauna across all continents, estimated to be worth $70 to $213 billion USD annually.Footnote 2 Based on UN statistics and criminal intelligence through INTERPOL,Footnote 3 the illegal trade and poaching of plants and other wildlife is estimated to cause loss of resources worth $7 to $23 billion USD per year globally (2016 estimate).

4.1.3. Inspections

Inspections are conducted to ensure that imports and exports of animals and plants comply with the requirements of WAPPRIITA. They are instrumental for on-going information collection of emerging non-compliance risks and threats. The subsequent analysis of this information informs the development of risk-based priorities for compliance verification.

In 2017, there were 2,759 inspections under WAPPRIITA.

Inspections are often either proactively planned or conducted in response to a referral from another federal department or agency such as the Canada Border Services Agency, provincial or territorial governments or the public. About 32% of the inspections conducted under WAPPRIITA focused on Canadian species at high conservation risk and/or facing a high level of non-compliance, and 68% were focused on foreign species meeting these criteria. In response to referrals for verification of compliance with WAPPRIITA, or planned maintenance inspections, other species were inspected under the Act and its regulations; however they were not identified as species at high risk for conservation and/or high risk for non-compliance.

Figure 3 presents the inspections conducted in 2017 under WAPPRIITA and its regulations by region.

Figure 3: Inspections conducted in 2017 under WAPPRIITA by region

Figure 3: Inspections conducted in 2017 under WAPPRIITA by region
Long description for figure 3
Figure 3 is a pie chart indicating the percentage of inpections conducted in 2017 by region.43% in Prairie and Northern region; 42 % in Pacific and Yukon region; 8%  in Ontario region; 5% in Quebec region and 2% in Atlantic region.

4.1.4. Investigations

In 2017, ECCC opened 40 new investigations involving international or interprovincial movements of wildlife. The outcomes of ECCC’s main investigations, including media releases and enforcement notifications, are published online.

Figure 4: Investigations opened in 2017 under WAPPRIITA by region

Figure 4: Investigations opened in 2017 under WAPPRIITA by region
Long description for figure 4
Figure 4 is a pied chart indicating the percentage of investigations opened in 2017 by region. 50% in Prairie and Northern region; 20% in Pacific and Yukon region; 12% in Quebec region; 10% in Atlantic region and 8% in Ontario region.

4.1.5. Violations

There were 362 cases of violation of WAPPRIITA or its regulations recorded in 2017 that resulted in prosecutions, seizures, tickets and warnings.

4.1.6. Convictions

In 2017, a total of 25 convictions (which includes tickets) were made for violations of WAPPRIITA or its regulations, which resulted in fines totalling of $114,849. Only one prosecution did not result in a conviction.

Five examples of investigations that led to prosecutions and resulted in convictions in 2017 for violations of WAPPRIITA or its regulations are described below.

  1. Smuggling of illegal ivory resulted in $75,000 penalty
  2. Ontario company ordered to pay $25,000 for the illegal import of coral
  3. Quebec company guilty of illegally exporting polar bear skin rugs
  4. Ontario man sentenced to jail for illegal importation of endangered reptiles
  5. Smuggling protected plants and animals into Canada results in conditional sentence of imprisonment and probation for offenders
1. Smuggling of illegal ivory resulted in $75,000 penalty
Forfeited items made from protected animal species Photo: Max McDonald © Environment and Climate Change Canada

Forfeited items made from protected animal species
Photo: Max McDonald © Environment and Climate Change Canada

On February 28, 2017, an individual plead guilty to two charges under subsection 6(2) of WAPPRIITA and the illegal importation of elephant, ivory, black rhino horn, lion, and sea turtle. The individual was fined $75,000 and prohibited for two years from importing and exporting items made from species listed by Convention on the International Trade of Endangered Species of Wild Fauna and Flora (CITES).

The case was opened in October 2014, when ECCC Enforcement Officers received a referral from the Canada Border Services Agency at Vancouver International Airport after undeclared ivory pendants, bracelets, carvings, chopsticks, and ornaments were found in a passenger’s luggage. The individual was entering the country on a return trip from China.

An Enforcement Officer detained the items and sent them for forensic DNA testing. The testing confirmed that the items were made from animal species protected by CITES. They included African and Asian elephants, lion, white rhinoceros, and hawksbill turtle.

Of the fine, $70,000 was directed to the Environmental Damages Fund. All items seized were forfeited.

2. Ontario company ordered to pay $25,000 for the illegal import of coral
Live corals from the Philippines concealed with tropical fish. Photo: Andrew Bruce © Environment and Climate Change Canada

Live corals from the Philippines concealed with tropical fish
Photo: Andrew Bruce © Environment and Climate Change Canada

This case was opened in November 2015 when ECCC Enforcement Officers inspected a shipment of live tropical fish. Eight live corals were concealed within the shipment of tropical fish and were not accompanied by the appropriate CITES permits. On August 25, 2017, a coral retailer and import company was ordered to pay, in the Ontario Court of Justice, a combined total penalty of $25,000 for illegal importation and smuggling of live corals originating from the Philippines, in violation of WAPPRIITA ($15,000).

3. Quebec company guilty of illegally exporting polar bear skin rugs

In 2015, when permit discrepancies were detected, ECCC Enforcement Officers launched an investigation. Under CITES polar bear skins require an export permit. On October 3, 2017 a company pleaded guilty, in the Court of Quebec, to three counts under WAPPRIITA to the illegal exportation of three polar bear skin rugs. The company was fined $22,500, which will go to the Environmental Damages Fund. In addition, two polar bear skin rugs were ordered forfeited to the Crown. As a result of this conviction, the company's name will be added to the Environmental Offenders Registry.

4. Ontario man sentenced to jail for illegal importation of endangered reptiles
Cuban Rock Iguana Photo: John Miller © Environment and Climate Change Canada

Cuban Rock Iguana
Photo: John Miller © Environment and Climate Change Canada

June 8, 2017 a resident of Thornhill, Ontario, was sentenced in Fredericton Provincial Court to serve two three-month jail terms after pleading guilty to two counts under WAPPRIITA: one count of importing an animal without the necessary permits and one count of exporting an animal from Cuba without the proper authorization.

The offender was intercepted by CBSA officers on September 17, 2016 after failing to declare two iguanas on their CBSA declaration card when re-entering the country. ECCC Wildlife Enforcement Officers identified the animals to be two Cuban rock iguanas (Cyclura nubila), a species which is listed in Appendix I of the CITES. The offender obtained the animals in Cuba, but had failed to secure the proper CITES permits from Cuban and Canadian officials.

5. Smuggling protected plants and animals into Canada results in conditional sentence of imprisonment and probation for offenders
Tree Fern roots, Medicine said to contain Musk Deer as one of the ingredients Photo: Todd Kish © Environment and Climate Change Canada

Tree Fern roots, Medicine said to contain Musk Deer as one of the ingredients
Photo: Todd Kish © Environment and Climate Change Canada

In May 2016, ECCC’s Enforcement Officers inspected a sea container that arrived at the Port of Vancouver. The shipment was flagged by CBSA as belonging to a Toronto-based company which was previously convicted for import violations under WAPPRIITA. During the inspection, the officers seized 800 kilograms of dried tree-fern roots and 13.6 kg of packaged medicines containing Musk deer (Moschus moschiferus). Both are regulated species that must be accompanied by a CITES permit.

On August 2, 2017 the company and its owner, pleaded guilty in the Ontario Court of Justice to violations under WAPPRIITA. The owner of the company was sentenced to a conditional sentence, to be served in the community. Both the owner and the company were additionally sentenced to notify ECCC, for a period of 18 months, of all pending imports of products that include any plants or animals, or their parts or derivatives.

The estimated retail value of the seized tree fern roots was $4,000 and $28,000 for the medicines.

4.2. Collaboration with provincial and territorial partners

While WAPPRIITA is federal legislation, several provincial and territorial agencies have designated officers to enforce the Act. The collaboration between Canada and its provincial and territorial partners is advantageous because it results in better coordination of efforts and resources in undertaking wildlife enforcement actions, especially large-scale operations. As mentioned in Section 1.3 of this report, agreements and memoranda of understanding exist between ECCC and Manitoba, Saskatchewan, Alberta, British Columbia, the Northwest Territories and Nunavut to support the administration and enforcement of WAPPRIITA in accordance with their own legislation.

Page details

Date modified: