Environmental groups seek leave to appeal to the Supreme Court of Canada in endangered species case

News release from Ontario Nature

OTTAWA – Ontario Nature and Wildlands League have filed an application with the Supreme Court of Canada, asking the Court to hear an appeal affecting all endangered and threatened species in Ontario. If leave to appeal is granted, this would be the first appeal ever heard by the Supreme Court of Canada regarding species at risk.

The environmental groups seek to appeal an October 11, 2016 decision of the Ontario Court of Appeal. That disappointing ruling upheld the Ontario government’s 2013 regulation exempting many harmful industrial activities from complying with core provisions of the Endangered Species Act, 2007. The province’s exemption regulation deprives all 167 endangered and threatened species in Ontario of legal protection against being killed and against destruction of their habitats. By removing critical protections, the exemptions leave the species with a bleak future.

New documents filed with the Supreme Court of Canada:
• Notice of Application for Leave to Appeal, December 9, 2016
• Memorandum of Argument, December 9, 2016