B.C. Needs Species Legislation

B.C. has more endangered species than any other Canadian province or territory.  Yet we are one of only two provinces that have virtually no legal protection for at-risk species.

BC’s current mishmash of laws and policies legally protect only five per cent of our endangered species. For instance, BC’s Wildlife Act protects active marbled murrelet nests, but it does not protect surrounding old-growth forests. Murrelets nest high in old-growth trees, laying their eggs on indentations in branches. Only a few active murrelet nests have ever been located, making it virtually impossible to attain any measure of protection for murrelets under the Wildlife Act.

What Sierra Club BC is doing about it

As part of a coalition team for species at risk, Sierra Club BC is working with municipalities to build local support for a stand-alone provincial legislation that protects endangered species and critical habitat.

We are also working directly with the provincial government to have endangered species legislation in progress as soon as possible. In 2006-07 we held more than 20 meetings with government, including a face-to-face meeting with B.C. Environment Minister Barry Penner and the then B.C. Minister of Agriculture and Lands, Pat Bell, about the need for an effective recovery plan for the mountain caribou. In collaboration with our colleagues, we delivered more than 11,000 letters to government from concerned citizens asking for habitat protection for the mountain caribou—protection that was granted in October 2007.

Orca lawsuit

When seven orca whales went missing in 2008, the species coalition team decided the orcas needed immediate protection -- they couldn't afford to wait for the province to clean up its act.  Nine groups, including Sierra Club BC, launched a lawsuit under the federal Species at Risk Act, alleging that the Department of Fisheries and Oceans had failed to require much-needed legal protection for the killer whales’ critical habitat.

As a result, in August 2009 the federal government issued an unprecedented Order that will provide legal protection for the orcas' habitat -- a stunning policy reversal and a victory for B.C.'s most iconic species.

Support from Margaret Atwood, Faith Community

In 2007, we published a comprehensive “Endangered Species Toolkit” for B.C. citizens to learn more about our rare species and what they can do to protect them. The 64-page toolkit, with a foreword by Canadian writer Margaret Atwood, has letters of support from faith community leaders, including the Multi-Faith Action Society and Anglican Diocese of B.C. It is being used to support our call for stand-alone legislation that adequately protects B.C.’s most vulnerable and vanishing species and their habitats.