Service standards and performance: permits for Migratory Birds Regulations

We issue permits for various activities affecting migratory birds each year. Our service standards tell you how long it will normally take us to process and respond to your permit application. We base these timelines on our resources and our experience.

Current service standards summary

When you apply for a Migratory Bird Regulations (MBR) permit, we will give you a decision within the following timelines:^{Footnote 1}

airport permit: 14 calendar days
eiderdown permit: 14 calendar days
aviculture permit: 35 calendar days
charity permit: 40 calendar days or 20 days before the permit is required, whichever is later
damage or danger permit: 35 calendar days
scientific permit: 40 calendar days or 20 days before the permit is required, whichever is later
taxidermist permit: 35 calendar days

A 90-day service standard applies to any permit applications which may affect a species protected by the Species at Risk Act (SARA).

If your application is incomplete, we will notify you and the time limit will be paused until we receive all missing information.

Background and detailed service standards

Service standards are necessary for good client service and important for managing performance because they:

set out expectations (both internally and externally)
drive improvement
contribute to results-based management

Our service standards set the timeframe for the Minister to issue or refuse to issue a permit under the MBR. We regularly analyze performance data and review service standards for all permit types issued under the MBR (except migratory game bird hunting permits).

Service standards and performance targets were reviewed in 2022 and no changes were made. The next review of service standards is scheduled for 2025.

In November 2013 we published service standards and performance indicators for 2 types of permits:

damage or danger
airport

In March 2014, we established service standards and performance indicators for all 4 remaining permits issued under the MBR:

aviculture
eiderdown
scientific
taxidermist

In July 2022 we established service standards and performance indicators for the new charity permits.

We have developed tools to assist MBR permit applicants. For this information, please visit the permit application forms web page.

Performance targets

We present performance targets in percentages of decisions provided for permit applications in a reporting timeframe (i.e. from April 1 of a year until March 31 of the following year).

For damage or danger and airport permits:

2013 to 2014: 80% of decisions made within the service standard
2014 to 2015: 85% of decisions made within the established service standard
2015 to 2016 onwards: 90% of decisions made within the established service standard

For taxidermist, aviculture, eiderdown and scientific permits:

2014 to 2015: 80% of decisions made within the service standard
2015 to 2016: 85% of decisions made within the service standard
2016 to 2017 onwards: 90% of decisions made within the service standard

For charity permits:

2022 to 2023 onwards: 90% of decisions made within the service standard

Performance reporting

ECCC measures service performance for permit decisions under the MBR annually and posts performance information online no later than June 1^st for the preceding reporting timeframe.

We met the performance targets for all permits decisions, under the MBR in 2022 to 2023, except for Eiderdown permits.

Statistics relating to processing times for issued permits are provided in the following tables:

Airport permits: 60 decisions made in the reporting timeframe from April 2022 to March 2023
Reporting timeframe	Target	Performance
April 2013 to March 2014	80% of permits issued within 14 days	99% of permits issued within 14 days
April 2014 to March 2015	85% of permits issued within 14 days	100% of permits issued within 14 days
April 2015 to March 2016	90% of permits issued within 14 days	100% of permits issued within 14 days
April 2016 to March 2017	90% of permits issued within 14 days	95% of permits issued within 14 days
April 2017 to March 2018	90% of permits issued within 14 days	98% of permits issued within 14 days
April 2018 to March 2019	90% of permits issued within 14 days	100% of permits issued within 14 days
April 2019 to March 2020	90% of decisions made within 14 days	98% of decisions made within 14 days
April 2020 to March 2021	90% of decisions within 14 days	89% of decisions made within 14 days ^{Footnote 2}
April 2021 to March 2022	90% of decisions within 14 days	100% of decisions made within 14 days
April 2022 to March 2023	90% of decisions within 14 days	95% of decisions made within 14 days
April 2023 to March 2024	90% of decisions within 14 days	Performance data to be provided by June 1st, 2024

Aviculture permits: 466 decisions made in the reporting timeframe from April 2022 to March 2023
Reporting timeframe	Target	Performance
April 2013 to March 2014	No targets set	No results reported
April 2014 to March 2015	80% of permits issued within 40 days	99% of permits issued within 40 days
April 2015 to March 2016	85% of permits issued within 40 days	99% of permits issued within 40 days
April 2016 to March 2017	90% of permits issued within 35 days	99% of permits issued within 35 days
April 2017 to March 2018	90% of permits issued within 35 days	98% of permits issued within 35 days
April 2018 to March 2019	90% of permits issued within 35 days	98% of permits issued within 35 days
April 2019 to March 2020	90% of decisions made within 35 days	100% of decisions made within 35 days
April 2020 to March 2021	90% of decisions made within 35 days	99% of decisions made within 35 days
April 2021 to March 2022	90% of decisions made within 35 days	100% of decisions made within 35 days
April 2022 to March 2023	90% of decisions made within 35 days	99% of decisions made within 35 days
April 2023 to March 2024	90% of decisions made within 35 days	Performance data to be provided by June 1st, 2024

Charity permits: 3 decisions made in the reporting timeframe from April 2022 to March 2023
Reporting timeframe	Target	Performance
April 2022 to March 2023	90% of permits issued within 40 days or 20 days before the permit is required, whichever is later	100% of decisions made within 40 days or 20 days before the permit is required
April 2023 to March 2024	90% of permits issued within 40 days or 20 days before the permit is required, whichever is later	Performance data to be provided by June 1st, 2024

Damage or Danger permits: 1376 decisions made in the reporting timeframe from April 2022 to March 2023
Reporting timeframe	Target	Performance
April 2013 to March 2014	80% of permits issued within 40 days	95% of permits issued within 40 days
April 2014 to March 2015	85% of permits issued within 40 days	99% of permits issued within 40 days
April 2015 to March 2016	90% of permits issued within 40 days	97% of permits issued within 40 days
April 2016 to March 2017	90% of permits issued within 35 days	97% of permits issued within 35 days
April 2017 to March 2018	90% of permits issued within 35 days	95% of permits issued within 35 days
April 2018 to March 2019	90% of permits issued within 35 days	99% of permits issued within 35 days
April 2019 to March 2020	90% of decisions made within 35 days	99% of decisions made within 35 days
April 2020 to March 2021	90% of decisions made within 35 days	100% of decisions made within 35 days
April 2021 to March 2022	90% of decisions made within 35 days	99% of decisions made within 35 days
April 2022 to March 2023	90% of decisions made within 35 days	98% of decisions made within 35 days
April 2023 to March 2024	90% of decisions made within 35 days	Performance data to be provided by June 1st, 2024

Eiderdown permits: 3 decisions made in the reporting timeframe from April 2022 to March 2023
Reporting timeframe	Target	Performance
April 2013 to March 2014	No targets set	No results reported
April 2014 to March 2015	80% of permits issued within 14 days	100% of permits issued within 14 days
April 2015 to March 2016	85% of permits issued within 14 days	0% of permits issued within 14 days
April 2016 to March 2017	90% of permits issued within 14 days	50% of permits issued within 14 days
April 2017 to March 2018	100% of permits issued within 14 days	100% of permits issued within 14 days
April 2018 to March 2019	100% of permits issued within 14 days	100% of permits issued within 14 days
April 2019 to March 2020	100% of decisions made within 14 days	75% of decisions made within 14 days
April 2020 to March 2021	100% of decisions made within 14 days	100% of decisions made within 14 days
April 2021 to March 2022	100% of decisions made within 14 days	33% of permits issued within 14 days ^{Footnote 3}
April 2022 to March 2023	100% of decisions made within 14 days	67% of decisions made within 14 days ^{Footnote 4}
April 2023 to March 2024	100% of decisions made within 14 days	Performance data to be provided by June 1st, 2024

Scientific permits: 653 decisions made in the reporting timeframe from April 2022 to March 2023
Reporting timeframe	Target	Performance
April 2013 to March 2014	No targets set	No results reported
April 2014 to March 2015	80% of permits issued within 40 days	82% of permits issued within 40 days
April 2015 to March 2016	85% of permits issued within 40 days	92% of permits issued within 40 days
April 2016 to March 2017	90% of permits issued within 40 days	92% of permits issued within 40 days
April 2017 to March 2018	90% of permits issued within 40 days (April 1st to December 31, 2017) or 90% of permits issued within 40 days or 20 days before the permit is required, whichever is later (January 1, 2018 onwards)	97% of permits issued within 40 days or 20 days before the permit is required
April 2018 to March 2019	90% of permits issued within 40 days or 20 days before the permit is required, whichever is later	95% of permits issued within 40 days or 20 days before the permit is required
April 2019 to March 2020	90% of decisions made within 40 days or 20 days before the permit is required, whichever is later	94% of decisions made within 40 days or 20 days before the permit is required
April 2020 to March 2021	90% of decisions made within 40 days or 20 days before the permit is required, whichever is later	94% of decisions made within 40 days or 20 days before the permit is required
April 2021 to March 2022	90% of decisions made within 40 days or 20 days before the permit is required, whichever is later	98% of decisions made within 40 days or 20 days before the permit is required
April 2022 to March 2023	90% of decisions made within 40 days or 20 days before the permit is required, whichever is later	92% of decisions made within 40 days or 20 days before the permit is required
April 2023 to March 2024	90% of decisions made within 40 days or 20 days before the permit is required, whichever is later	Performance data to be provided by June 1st, 2024

Taxidermist permits: 182 decisions made in the reporting timeframe from April 2022 to March 2023
Reporting timeframe	Target	Performance
April 2013 to March 2014	No targets set	No results reported
April 2014 to March 2015	80% of permits issued within 40 days	100% of permits issued within 40 days
April 2015 to March 2016	85% of permits issued within 40 days	100% of permits issued within 40 days
April 2016 to March 2017	90% of permits issued within 35 days	100% of permits issued within 35 days
April 2017 to March 2018	90% of permits issued within 35 days	100% of permits issued within 35 days
April 2018 to March 2019	90% of permits issued within 35 days	100% of permits issued within 35 days
April 2019 to March 2020	90% of decisions made within 35 days	100% of decisions made within 35 days
April 2020 to March 2021	90% of decisions made within 35 days	100% of decisions made within 35 days
April 2021 to March 2022	90% of decisions made within 35 days	99% of decisions made within 35 days
April 2022 to March 2023	90% of decisions made within 35 days	100% of decisions made within 35 days
April 2023 to March 2024	90% of decisions made within 35 days	Performance data to be provided by June 1st, 2024

Service feedback

Contact us at CWSPermit.PermisSCF@ec.gc.ca for any feedback on these service standards or on any issue related to Canadian Wildlife Service permits.

For more information

Government-wide forward regulatory plans
The Cabinet Directive on Regulatory Management
The Red Tape Reduction Action Plan
The Canada-United States Regulatory Cooperation Council
Buy a Migratory Game Bird Hunting permit
Service standards and performance targets for migratory game bird hunting permits
Application forms for MBR permits For additional information please contact your regional Canadian Wildlife Service office or email CWSPermit.PermisSCF@ec.gc.ca .

To learn about upcoming or ongoing consultations on proposed federal regulations, visit the Canada Gazette and Consulting with Canadians websites.

Footnotes

Footnote 1

The timeline begins on the date of the notice informing you that we received your application.

Return to footnote1 Referrer

Footnote 2

The Airport permit performance target was narrowly missed due to extenuating circumstances linked to the onset of the COVID19 pandemic and adapting to remote work in the Pacific region, as well as delays in receiving reports from applicants regarding permit condition compliance monitoring. These initial difficulties were overcome by Pacific region during the remainder of the fiscal year.

Return to footnote2 Referrer

Footnote 3

Competing Quebec regional permit priorities resulted in the late issuance of two of three eiderdown permits (very small sample size), which contributed to not meeting the performance target for fiscal year 2021-2022. Triaging of permitting requests in Quebec region will be improved to meet service standards.

Return to footnote3 Referrer

Footnote 4

Competing Quebec regional permit priorities resulted in the late issuance of one of three eiderdown permits (very small sample size), which contributed to not meeting the performance target for fiscal year 2022-2023. Triaging of permitting requests in Quebec region will be improved to meet service standards.

Return to footnote4 Referrer

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Date modified:: 2023-05-30

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