Minister Response: COSEWIC species at risk assessments - January 2026

Official title: The Minister of the Environment's Response to Species at Risk Assessments submitted by the Committee on the Status of Endangered Wildlife in Canada (COSEWIC) on October 16, 2025

Table 1. Terrestrial species assessed by COSEWIC and eligible for addition to Schedule 1 of the Species at Risk Act (8 species)
Normal consultations: until May 14, 2026; Extended consultations: until October 14, 2026

Table 1
Taxon	COSEWIC status	Species	Scientific name	Range	Consultation path
Arthropods	Endangered	Valley Grasshopper	Oedaleonotus enigma	BC	Normal
Birds	Endangered	Short-billed Dowitcher caurinus subspecies	Limnodromus griseus caurinus	YT, BC	Extended
Lichens	Endangered	Cupped Fringe Lichen	Heterodermia hypoleuca	ON, QC, NB	Normal
Molluscs	Endangered	Big-tooth Whitelip	Neohelix dentifera	ON, QC	Normal
Mosses	Endangered	Circular-leaved Peat Moss	Sphagnum cyclophyllum	NS	Normal
Vascular Plants	Endangered	Short-fruited Rush	Juncus brachycarpus	ON	Normal
Birds	Threatened	Short-billed Dowitcher hendersoni/griseus	Limnodromus griseus hendersoni/griseus	NT, AB, SK, MB, ON, QC, NB, NS, PE, NL, NU	Extended
Birds	Threatened	Snowy Owl	Bubo scandiacus	YT, NT, NU, BC, AB, SK, MB, ON, QC, NB, NS, PE, NL	Extended

Table 2. Terrestrial species assessed by COSEWIC and eligible for reclassification (3 species) or removal (1 species) from Schedule 1 of the Species at Risk Act

Table 2
Taxon	Proposed change to Schedule 1 status	Species	Scientific name	Range	Consultation path^{Footnote 1}
Reptiles	From Endangered to Threatened	Butler's Gartersnake	Thamnophis butleri	ON	Not Applicable^{Footnote 1}
Birds	From Threatened to Special Concern	Least Bittern	Botaurus exilis	SK, MB, ON, QC, NB, NS, PE	Extended
Arthropods	From Endangered to Data Deficient	Macropis Cuckoo Bee	Epeoloides pilosulus	AB, SK, MB, ON, QC, NB, NS	Normal
Reptiles	Merge from one Endangered and one Threatened species to one Threatened species	Eastern Massasauga^{Footnote 2}	Sistrurus catenatus	ON	Not Applicable1

Table 3. Terrestrial species on Schedule 1 and recently reassessed by COSEWIC with the same status - status confirmation (no consultations) (3 species)

Table 3
Taxon	COSEWIC status	Species	Scientific name	Range
Mosses	Endangered	Roell's Brotherella Moss	Brotherella roellii	BC
Birds	Threatened	Lewis's Woodpecker	Melanerpes lewis	BC, AB
Mammals	Threatened	Black-tailed Prairie Dog	Cynomys ludovicianus	SK

Table 4. Aquatic species assessed by COSEWIC and eligible for addition to Schedule 1 of the Species at Risk Act, with consultations to be conducted by Fisheries and Oceans Canada (4 species).

Table 4
Taxon	COSEWIC status	Species	Scientific name	Range	Consultation path
Echinodermata	Endangered	Sunflower Sea Star	Pycnopodia helianthoides	BC, Pacific Ocean	Extended
Fishes (freshwater)	Special Concern	Bull Trout (Pacific population)	Salvelinus confluentus	BC	Normal
Fishes (marine)	Special Concern	Greenland Shark	Somniosus microcephalus	NU, QC, NB, NS, PE, NL, Arctic Ocean, Atlantic Ocean	Extended
Mammals (marine)	Special Concern	Northern Bottlenose Whale (Davis Strait-Baffin Bay-Labrador Sea population)	Hyperoodon ampullatus	NU, NL, Atlantic Ocean	Addition to Schedule 1 for which there will be no further consultations^{Footnote 3}

Table 5. Aquatic species assessed by COSEWIC and eligible for reclassification on Schedule 1 of the Species at Risk Act, with consultations to be conducted by Fisheries and Oceans Canada (2 species).

Normal consultations: until March 14, 2026

Table 5
Taxon	Proposed change to Schedule 1 status	Species	Scientific name	Range	Consultation path
Fishes (freshwater)	From Threatened to Endangered	Pugnose Minnow	Opsopoeodus emiliae	ON	Normal
Molluscs	From Endangered to Special Concern	Lilliput	Toxolasma parvum	ON	Normal

Table 6. Aquatic species recently reassessed by COSEWIC with the same status - status confirmation (no consultations) (4 species)

Table 6
Taxon	COSEWIC status	Species	Scientific name	Range
Mammals (marine)	Endangered	Northern Bottlenose Whale (Scotian Shelf population)	Hyperoodon ampullatus	NS, NL, Atlantic Ocean
Fishes (freshwater)	Threatened	Bull Trout (Saskatchewan - Nelson Rivers population)	Salvelinus confluentus	AB
Fishes (freshwater)	Special Concern	Bull Trout (South Coast British Columbia population)	Salvelinus confluentus	BC
Fishes (freshwater)	Special Concern	Bull Trout (Western Arctic population)	Salvelinus confluentus	YT, NT, BC, AB

Footnotes

Footnote 1

No consultations are planned for this reclassification, as the proposed change to the status for this species would have no impact on protections or prohibitions.

Return to footnote1 referrer

Footnote 2

Eastern Massasaugas are currently listed on Schedule 1 under different names and populations. The Massasauga, Carolinian population is on Schedule 1 as Endangered and the Massasauga, Great Lakes / St. Lawrence population in on Schedule 1 as Threatened. In early 2025, COSEWIC assessed the Eastern Massasauga as one wildlife species instead of two as the two populations were considered a single unit.

Return to footnote2 referrer

Footnote 3

This is a reassessment at the same status of an unlisted species for which consultations were previously undertaken.

Return to footnote3 referrer

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2026-01-14

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Minister Response: COSEWIC species at risk assessments - January 2026

Table 1. Terrestrial species assessed by COSEWIC and eligible for addition to Schedule 1 of the Species at Risk Act (8 species)
Normal consultations: until May 14, 2026; Extended consultations: until October 14, 2026

Table 2. Terrestrial species assessed by COSEWIC and eligible for reclassification (3 species) or removal (1 species) from Schedule 1 of the Species at Risk Act

Table 3. Terrestrial species on Schedule 1 and recently reassessed by COSEWIC with the same status - status confirmation (no consultations) (3 species)

Table 4. Aquatic species assessed by COSEWIC and eligible for addition to Schedule 1 of the Species at Risk Act, with consultations to be conducted by Fisheries and Oceans Canada (4 species).

Table 5. Aquatic species assessed by COSEWIC and eligible for reclassification on Schedule 1 of the Species at Risk Act, with consultations to be conducted by Fisheries and Oceans Canada (2 species).

Normal consultations: until March 14, 2026

Table 6. Aquatic species recently reassessed by COSEWIC with the same status - status confirmation (no consultations) (4 species)

Page details

Minister Response: COSEWIC species at risk assessments - January 2026

Table 1. Terrestrial species assessed by COSEWIC and eligible for addition to Schedule 1 of the Species at Risk Act (8 species) Normal consultations: until May 14, 2026; Extended consultations: until October 14, 2026

Table 2. Terrestrial species assessed by COSEWIC and eligible for reclassification (3 species) or removal (1 species) from Schedule 1 of the Species at Risk Act

Table 3. Terrestrial species on Schedule 1 and recently reassessed by COSEWIC with the same status - status confirmation (no consultations) (3 species)

Table 4. Aquatic species assessed by COSEWIC and eligible for addition to Schedule 1 of the Species at Risk Act, with consultations to be conducted by Fisheries and Oceans Canada (4 species).

Table 5. Aquatic species assessed by COSEWIC and eligible for reclassification on Schedule 1 of the Species at Risk Act, with consultations to be conducted by Fisheries and Oceans Canada (2 species).

Normal consultations: until March 14, 2026

Table 6. Aquatic species recently reassessed by COSEWIC with the same status - status confirmation (no consultations) (4 species)

Page details

Table 1. Terrestrial species assessed by COSEWIC and eligible for addition to Schedule 1 of the Species at Risk Act (8 species)
Normal consultations: until May 14, 2026; Extended consultations: until October 14, 2026