Hydro-Québec violated the Species at Risk Act by carrying out work directly in the critical habitat of the chorus frog, a species threatened and protected by federal legislation. The Crown corporation was fined $40,000.
According to a press release released Tuesday by Environment and Climate Change Canada, Hydro-Québec recently “pleaded guilty to one count of violating the prohibitions under the Emergency Order for the Protection of the Tree Frog western chorus cricket”.
This means that the crown corporation has contravened the Species at Risk Act, which protects the habitat of the batrachian. The legislation prohibits killing or harming a wildlife species listed as an endangered species, as well as damaging or destroying its habitat.
Last March, wildlife enforcement officers from Environment and Climate Change Canada noticed the presence of heavy equipment and construction in an area that is part of the species’ protected critical habitat, in La Prairie. “The investigation determined that Hydro-Québec was responsible for the work that caused visible damage in an area estimated at more than 3955 m2 “, specifies the press release of the federal government.
In 2016, the federal government passed an emergency order to stop a real estate project in La Prairie that was encroaching on a habitat for this species in decline. This decree affects the municipalities of La Prairie, Candiac and Saint-Philippe, near Montreal.
Threatened species
In the fall of 2021, Ottawa once again decided to intervene, in order to stop a road project that has largely destroyed one of the last habitats of the tree frog in Longueuil. This project had been approved by the Quebec Ministry of the Environment, despite a scientific opinion from the Ministry of Forests, Wildlife and Parks highlighting the risks for the species.
Over 90% of tree frog habitat in Quebec has already been destroyed in recent decades, mainly due to urban sprawl.
In a report on “threats” dated March 2021, Quebec government experts sounded the alarm by pointing out that less than 25% of the populations present in Quebec will be able to survive, unless a brake is put on the growing threats.
“Consequently, the conservation actions planned for its recovery must at least protect and restore” breeding sites, such as those that were destroyed in Longueuil.