Terry Kruger
Northern News Services

Yellowknife (Apr 17/00) - Canada's newly- introduced Species at Risk legislation comes armed with new federal money, of which a "disproportionate amount" will likely come North, says Environment Minister David Anderson.

Species at Risk in the NWT Birds Endangered: Eskimo Curlew, Whooping Crane Threatened: Anatum Peregrine Falcon Vulnerable: Short-eared Owl, Tundra Peregrine Falcon, Yellow Rail Fish Threatened: Shortjaw Cisco Vulnerable: Blackline Prickleback Arctic Ocean population, Fourhorn Sculpin Freshwater population Indeterminate: Darktail Lamprey Mammals Extinct: Sea Mink Endangered: Bowhead Whale Western Arctic population, Peary Caribou Banks Island population, Peary Caribou High Arctic population, Right Whale Threatened: Peary Caribou Low Arctic population, Wood Bison Vulnerable: Blue Whale, Fin Whale, Grizzly Bear, Polar Bear, Wolverine Western population, Woodland Caribou Western population Indeterminate: Gray Wolf Arctic population Reptiles Endangered:Leatherback Turtle

In a telephone interview from Ottawa last week, Anderson called the act, tabled in the House of Commons April 11, an important piece of legislation, and fulfilling Canada's commitment to preserving species at risk.

Most of all, said Anderson, the act presents a "balanced approach" that takes the needs of the "people working on the land" into account along with the overall goal of protecting threatened plants and wildlife.

The proposed Species at Risk Act (SARA) "provides the authority to prohibit the destruction of endangered or threatened species and their critical habitat on all lands in Canada," according to a release announcing the act's introduction to Parliament.

"By combining incentives with strong legal actions and the ability of the federal government to act alone when necessary, the Government of Canada is creating a workable species protection system that will achieve concrete results," said Anderson in the release.

He said the act complements the roles of the provinces and territories and involves landowners, land users, aboriginal people, fishing interests and citizens in the recovery process.

An important step in achieving the act's success is a federal commitment to provide the money needed to make it work, said Anderson.

This year's federal budget committed $90 million over three years and stabilized funding of $45 million in subsequent years for the national strategy.

"Critically important is it pumps money into the wildlife system," Anderson told News/North. Because of the North's unique status in Canada, he expects a lot of that money will be allocated to Northern governments and aboriginal groups to carry out the act's aims.

"I suspect probably a disproportionate amount of money is going to be spent in the North."

He also suspects aboriginal groups in the North and across the country will play a special role in bringing the act to life.

He said First Nations' views were taken into account in the drafting of the legislation and were given the opportunity to review the act before it was introduced.

As well, aboriginal traditional and community knowledge will be put to use "for the design of recovery planning for species listed as endangered and threatened."

He pledged that the act would be flexible when it comes to First Nations' social and cultural needs. Anderson cited allowing the ceremonial kill of a bowhead whale as an example. That went ahead even though the species is listed as endangered. "I don't see any changes on that," he said.

Anderson also praised the role of Northern leaders, specifically environment ministers who are of aboriginal descent from the NWT, Nunavut and the Yukon, on the Committee on the Status of Endangered Wildlife in Canada (COSEWIC), the agency that will decide what species are endangered or threatened.

A subcommittee of the group is comprised of First Nations representatives. The group will meet in Iqaluit in August to ensure Canada's species at risk terminology coincides with the International for Conservation of Nature Criteria.

Stemming the tide

Canada's newly- tabled Species at Risk Act, dubbed SARA, is the federal government's attempt to protect wildlife at risk.

It covers birds, plants, fish, mammals, insects, amphibians and reptiles and establishes the Committee on the Status of Endangered Wildlife in Canada (COSEWIC) as the national agency that will assess which species are at risk.

The committee has been around for 22 years and during that times has classified 340 species in Canada as being at risk.

As well, SARA aims to complement national, territorial and provincial laws, including the Fisheries Act, the Migratory Birds Convention Act, the National Parks Act, the Wild Animal and Plant Protection and Regulation of International and Interprovincial Trade Act, the Convention on International Trade in Endangered Species and the Canada Wildlife Act.

Highlights of SARA include:

• Prohibitions on the killing, harming, harassing, capturing or taking of species officially listed as threatened, endangered or extirpated, and the destruction of their habitats.
• Identifying and protecting critical habitat.
• Recovery strategies and action plans for endangered or threatened species, and management plans for species of special concern are mandatory. These will be done in partnership with the provinces, territories, wildlife management boards, aboriginal organizations, landowners, fishing interests, universities, industry, environmental groups and other appropriate individuals.
• Compensation will be paid to individuals, organizations, aboriginal peoples or businesses for any extraordinary or unfair impact for losses suffered as a result of prohibiting the destruction of critical habitat.
• Money to pay for voluntary conservation activities and conservation agreements by individuals, organizations, communities, businesses or governments.