Proposed changes to Canada's Species at Risk Act (SARA) could weaken one of the country's strongest safeguards against extinction, allowing major projects such as the West Coast oil pipeline to move forward despite risks to endangered wildlife and their habitat.
At the heart of the debate is a simple question: should major industrial projects like the one-million-barrel-per-day tar sands pipeline and export terminal at Roberts Bank be approved if they could cause the extinction of endangered species? Canada's Species at Risk Act currently says no. But proposed changes would create a pathway for certain projects to be permitted even if they threaten a species' survival or recovery, as long as the project is deemed of “public interest”.
For many other species at risk, including Southern Resident killer whales that are already facing threats from declining prey, vessel traffic, underwater noise, pollution, and habitat degradation, weakening these protections could have lasting consequences for protection and recovery efforts across Canada and in the Salish Sea.
The new West Coast oil pipeline is currently being considered as a project of interest, and this project would be fast-tracked through Bill C-5 and changes to the Species at Risk Act. This pipeline would carry about one million barrels of crude oil each day along 1250 km, twinning the route of the Trans Mountain pipeline. As the terminal would end in the Salish Sea, this would lead to ecological damages to Chinook salmon, the killer whale’s main food source.
Scientists who have advised the federal government have expressed deep concern about these changes to SARA, stating that the discretionary powers would render the Act meaningless. As former Chairs of the Committee on the Status of Endangered Wildlife in Canada, these scientists write openly to the Canadian government: “If deemed in the national interest, the currently conceived West Coast pipeline could decimate the entire population of the imperilled killer whales [...] Are Canadians willing to bet this unique population of killer whales against another oil pipeline?”
Learn More
- Media Release: Tsleil-Waututh Nation Files Judicial Review of the Dredging Works
- Research and Stewardship in the Burrard Inlet
- History of the Trans Mountain Pipeline
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