The Minister of the Environment Steven Guilbeault will finally act in favor of the protection of an important habitat of the Chorus Frog in Longueuil, using the provisions of the Species at Risk Act. This wetland has however been largely destroyed in recent weeks, as part of the extension of a street that was authorized by the Legault government.
“The chorus frog is listed on the endangered species list of the Species at Risk Act, and the development activities underway in Longueuil, Quebec are destroying the critical habitat of this species,” argues the Minister Guilbeault, in a statement released early Monday morning.
“After evaluating the best scientific evidence available and receiving a recommendation from the Department of Environment and Climate Change Canada, I have decided that protection under the Species at Risk Act is necessary,” he adds. -he. The Minister of the Environment will therefore recommend that the government “issue an emergency decree” for the protection of the “essential” habitat of the species, which was largely destroyed to extend Boulevard Béliveau.
Time limit
Under the Species at Risk Act (SARA), it is prohibited to destroy the recognized “critical” habitat of a species such as the Chorus Frog. However, this is precisely what the City of Longueuil has been doing for several weeks now to extend a street over a distance of 300 meters, so as to facilitate the movement of motorists in a residential sector.
In this context, Minister Guilbeault therefore had an obligation to recommend that the federal government act. Interviewed at To have to on September 9, Mr. Guilbeault had already promised to rigorously enforce SARA in Quebec, in situations where the Quebec government does not sufficiently protect the habitats of endangered species.
In mid-October, before the presentation of the new cabinet of the Trudeau government, the office of the former Canadian Minister of the Environment, Jonathan Wilkinson, had already promised to make such a recommendation.
This commitment was not honored, however, so that work to extend Boulevard Béliveau continued until the court agreed to impose an injunction to stop them on October 29. The extension of this injunction will also be discussed in court on Monday, at the request of the Quebec Center for Environmental Law.
The new mayor of Longueuil, Catherine Fournier, has pledged in the campaign to stop the work that was funded by the City. The street section has already been largely completed. An imposing 30-meter concrete tunnel was also built in this wetland. According to the City of Longueuil, this is a “wildlife passage” supposed to allow the free movement of amphibians, whose size does not exceed 2.5 centimeters.
But for the general manager of the Société pour la nature et des parcs du Québec, Alain Branchaud, the work stoppage will not solve the many problems arising from carrying out road works directly in the habitat of the chorus frog. According to him, it will be essential to stop the drainage of the wetland which was started at the request of the City of Longueuil, otherwise the population of tree frogs will disappear.
Quebec authorizations
The work was authorized by the Ministry of the Environment and the Fight against Climate Change, despite an unfavorable opinion from experts from the Ministry of Forests, Wildlife and Parks (MFFP). However, this “wildlife notice” was not taken into account in the Legault government’s decision.
Representatives of the Quebec Ministry of the Environment have also helped the City of Longueuil to obtain the authorizations to build the street, revealed Saturday. The duty. They explained to the City the procedure to follow to avoid the unfavorable opinion of the MFFP experts, since they concluded that the project would wipe out one of the last wetlands sheltering this endangered species.
The Chorus Frog has already lost more than 90% of its habitat in Quebec, mainly due to urban sprawl. Certain habitats of the species located in the sector of Boulevard Béliveau, in Longueuil, have been destroyed over the years and others, near Boisé Du Tremblay, were damaged or destroyed at the end of 2020.
In a report of “threats” dated March 2021, but that the MFFP refused to transmit to the To have to, experts are also sounding 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.