The little frog, dubbed “Chorus Frog,” won in the Supreme Court against land developers seeking compensation in Ottawa after an emergency decree halted work on a property in the species’ habitat in 2016.
The decree, passed under the Species at Risk Act, ended subdivision work being carried out in a wooded area of La Prairie on Montreal’s South Shore.
“The courts confirm that we applied the Endangered Species Act appropriately. “From a legal perspective, we are on solid foundations to continue protecting endangered species,” said Federal Environment Minister Steven Guilbeault.
Quebec’s environmental organizations are pleased with the Supreme Court’s decision.
This “confirms once again that the authorities have a wide margin of maneuver to respond to the need to protect biodiversity,” explained Marc Bishai, a lawyer at the Center Québécois du droit de l’environnement (CQDE). ).
This is the second major victory for the little amphibian before the country’s highest court. The Supreme Court had already ruled in favor of the small amphibian against the organizer Groupe Maison Candiac in 2020, who questioned the validity of the federal decision.
In the most recent case, three companies instead demanded compensation for the work stoppage. The federal court and the federal appeals court rejected it, and the Supreme Court put the nail in the coffin on Thursday.
“Despite the Supreme Court’s denial of the appeal, the Canadian government must act swiftly on the recommendations of the federal court’s ruling and implement the statutory guidelines for a compensation plan,” said General Manager Alain Branchaud at SNAP Quebec.
Environment Secretary Steven Guilbeault is due to make an announcement in Laval Friday on “protecting and restoring the habitat of endangered species in the Montreal metropolitan area.”