A Quebecer was fined $60,000 for destroying the nests of bank swallows, an endangered species.
Sébastien Pouliot was thus sanctioned on Tuesday by the Court of Quebec, at the Mont-Joli courthouse, in Bas-Saint-Laurent. Another man, Yves Thibeault, was fined $5,000, Canada’s Department of the Environment said.
Both individuals pleaded guilty to one count of violating the federal Migratory Bird Regulations by “disturbing and destroying” the nests of bank swallows, a small cream and chocolate bird.
In June 2022, law enforcement officers for Environment and Climate Change Canada received information from the public. They opened an investigation into the destruction of bank swallow nests near Mont-Joli airport.
This revealed that the two men destroyed nests in the summer of 2022, during work on a mound of earth where a colony of swallows was nesting. They particularly appreciate sand and gravel pits, as well as construction sites where there are vertical embankments. They dig nests in the walls there, from mid-April to the end of August.
The bank swallow is listed as “threatened” under Canada’s Species at Risk Act. But despite a drop of around 99% in its population in Quebec, it is not on the Quebec government’s list of threatened or vulnerable wildlife species.
It should be noted that the bank swallow is one of the 142 species of birds that frequent the site where the Northvolt factory will be built, in Montérégie. In a wildlife opinion written as part of the project analysis and obtained by The dutyexperts from the Quebec government have also insisted on the need to take measures “to avoid mortalities in work zones”, where there are feeding areas.
“The loss and modification of its habitat, work in nesting sites and the reduction of food sources are the main threats causing the decline of the species,” underline the experts. On the land belonging to Northvolt, scientists have also confirmed the presence of nesting sites, but these would be outside the area of the work to destroy wetlands and plant cover.
The fines imposed on the two men will be paid into the Government of Canada’s Environmental Damages Fund. Money from fines, penalties and judgments ordering the payment of sums is deposited in this fund and invested in projects aimed at repairing the damage caused to the environment, in the regions where it was caused.
With Alexander Shields