SAINTE-ANNE-DES-MONTS, QC, July 8, 2024
/CNW/ - Enforcing Canadian environmental and wildlife laws is one
important way that Environment and Climate Change Canada is taking
action to protect wildlife and nature.
On July 4, 2024, at the
Sainte-Anne-des-Monts courthouse,
Les Entreprises Énia Lafontaine was ordered by the Court of Québec
to pay a fine of $12,500. The
company pleaded guilty to one count of violating the Species at
Risk Act. The charge stems from actions that damaged or
destroyed Bank Swallow nests. The fine will be paid to the Receiver
General for Canada.
In June 2022, Environment and
Climate Change Canada enforcement officers received a report from
Quebec's Ministère des Forêts, de
la Faune et des Parcs indicating that a Bank Swallow colony was
threatened by excavation work carried out below their nests in a
sandpit. Officers proceeded to the site and found that heavy
machinery was removing material at the base of a sand wall where
swallows were nesting. At the site, the officers saw the walls
collapse, destroying the Bank Swallow nests in the process.
The investigation determined that Les
Entreprises Énia Lafontaine
was responsible for the work done that damaged or destroyed Bank
Swallow nests. In so doing, they committed an offence under
section 33 of the Species at Risk Act.
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Quick facts
- The Bank Swallow is an endangered migratory bird whose Canadian
population has declined by 98 percent over the past 40 years. This
insectivorous bird is particularly attracted to sand and gravel
pits, piles of sand and earth, and sandy embankments at the edges
of water bodies and paths.
- Bank Swallows nest in burrows dug into exposed earth, primarily
on the banks of ponds and rivers, but also in sand pits and gravel
pits and at some construction sites where there are vertical
embankments of earth. Individuals and companies can protect these
birds by avoiding activities that could damage, destroy, or disturb
their nests.
- The Bank Swallow is a threatened wildlife species protected
under the Species at Risk Act. The Bank Swallow is also a
protected species under the Migratory Birds Convention Act,
1994 and its Regulations. According to the laws and
their Regulations, anyone who kills, hunts, captures, injures, or
harasses a migratory bird or damages, destroys, removes, or
disturbs their nests, eggs, or residence (burrow) without a permit
or regulatory authorization is committing a punishable
offence.
Associated links
- Bank Swallow (Riparia riparia): In Sandpits and
Quarries
- About the Species at Risk Act
Environment and Climate Change Canada's X (Twitter) page
Environment and Climate Change Canada's Facebook page
SOURCE Environment and Climate Change Canada