Despite repeated requests from elected officials and citizens, the Trudeau government does not intend to intervene to impose the full protection of the natural environments found on land leased by Aéroports de Montréal (ADM), including the “Champ des Monarques”, considered an important habitat for this species which the federal government should soon classify as “endangered”.
The Technoparc Oiseaux group says it is “outraged” by the Trudeau government’s response to a federal petition demanding the protection of land north of Pierre-Elliott-Trudeau airport. These lands, which are currently leased by Transport Canada to Aéroports de Montréal (ADM), include green areas, including an area referred to as the “champ des monarches”, due to the presence of milkweed, a plant essential to the cycle life of this butterfly.
In a written response, sent on the eve of the start of the UN conference on biodiversity (COP15), to this petition presented to the House of Commons, the Federal Minister for Transport, Omar Alghabra, said that he could not go moving forward with a protection project, due to the terms of the “long-term lease” signed in 1992 with ADM. “The Government of Canada cannot intervene unilaterally to transform the airport lands under the management of Aéroports de Montréal into a national urban park, in accordance with the terms of the lease,” he wrote.
“To date, Aéroports de Montréal has demonstrated its environmental commitment by implementing measures to protect the ecosystem and its biodiversity at Montréal-Trudeau airport,” added the Minister.
In the minister’s office, they say they are following the file “very closely”. “Minister Alghabra and his cabinet have repeatedly told ADM that the airport must do more, with the support of the local community. Everyone agrees that concrete results are needed and that the airport must increase the area of protected land, ”we argue in a written response.
On the side of ADM, it is recalled that the land belongs to the federal government. “We believe that as the owner, it is up to Transport Canada to open the discussion on a possible change of vocation for a portion of the airport site, which has not been done for the moment,” argued the corporate communications department.
Shaved “Monarch Field”
Last summer, ADM razed the vegetation of the “monarch field” without having obtained authorization from the federal government.
Environment Canada had also opened “a file” following this cut, because of its potential impacts on birds that nest in the area. Under the Migratory Birds Convention Act, 1994, it is illegal to “harm” migratory birds. The land serves as a habitat, nesting site or passageway for more than 150 species of birds, including several migratory species protected by this law.
For the spokesperson for Technoparc Oiseaux, Benoit Gravel, it is therefore clear that the federal government must intervene and impose the protection of the land that belongs to it in the sector. “It would be a positive message to send within the framework of COP15. But instead, the minister answers us the day before the start of the conference to tell us that he will not protect these lands, ”he laments.
Mr. Gravel recalls that 25 municipalities in the Montreal region have passed resolutions calling for the protection of these lands. “It shows that there is strong regional support for protection,” he said.
” Endangered “
According to him, the Trudeau government has all the more responsibility to act as it should soon classify the monarch butterfly as being “endangered”. Ottawa indeed launched at the beginning of November the consultation which should lead to this classification.
The Liberals thus finally agree with the opinion of the Committee on the Status of Endangered Wildlife in Canada, which had recommended in 2016 that the moth receive this designation, the most severe status provided for by the Species at Risk Act before that species “extinct” in the country.
According to information obtained by The duty According to sources familiar with the matter, the federal government intends to use the new classification of the monarch to better protect the places it frequents. The status that will be granted to it will indeed involve the development of a recovery plan and the designation of “critical habitat” to ensure its survival in the country.
International Protection
The butterfly’s complex life cycle, however, means that conservation efforts must reach beyond Canadian borders into the United States and Mexico.
Adult butterflies that overwinter in Mexico breed the following spring, and the females then lay eggs on a specific plant species, milkweed. Monarchs then migrate north to arrive in Quebec in June, where they also breed. Several generations of monarchs can follow one another before these butterflies reach our regions.
The insect therefore faces multiple threats, including the impacts of climate change. Monarch caterpillars are particularly vulnerable to habitat destruction, since they feed only on milkweed.
Monarch populations have plummeted in recent years in North America. The eastern population (which migrates notably to Quebec) has gone from 384 million butterflies in 1996 to about 60 million today; this is an 85% drop. The situation of the so-called “Western” population is even worse: it has gone from 1.2 million butterflies in 1997 to less than 30,000 today.