Ask Clinton to Urge Canadian Government For Strong Canadian ESA
9/28/99
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RELAYED TEXT STARTS HERE:
Title: Ask Clinton to Urge Canadian Government For Strong Canadian
ESA
Source: Roger Featherstone, GREEN Director
PO Box 40046, Albuquerque, NM 87196-0046 (505) 255-5966 x102
fax, (505) 255-5953 rfeather@defenders.org
http://www.defenders.org/grnhome.html
Status: Copyright 1999, contact source for permission to reprint
Date: September 28, 1999
Folks,
There is movement growing by leaps and bounds in Canada to pass a
strong federal Canadian Endangered Species Act.
A bill is expected to be offered in Parliament this fall and unlike
here in the US, will probably only take 7 or 8 months to be resolved.
The cards look better both within the government and amongst the
Canadian people to successfully pass a strong act, but the task will
still be daunting.
You can assist Canadian activists to prepare for their upcoming
efforts by signing the following letter to President Clinton.
President Clinton will be traveling to Canada early next month to
meet with Prime Minister Chretien. We hope this letter will help
convenience Clinton to make the Canadian ESA part of his talks.
The more groups that sign the letter, the better chance we have of
President Clinton talking about a strong Canadian ESA with strong
protections for trans-boundary endangered species and strong habitat
protections.
Our Canadian friends working on the Canadian ESA bill tell us that
the only way the Canadian government will take seriously the need for
protecting trans-boundary endangered and threatened species is if a
huge push comes from the US to force them to take these protections
seriously. Signing your group on to this letter is a good first
start down this path.
There are many other great reasons for your group to sign the letter,
but you get the drift!
We'll be following the efforts of our friends to the north very
carefully and stand ready to help them in any way possible. Rest
assured that you'll be the first to know when the next opportunity to
help arises.
Take a look at the following letter and do all you can to get as many
groups as possible onto the letter.
The deadline for this letter is noon (MDT), Monday, October 4. The
letter will go to the White House the next day - so be prompt!
Thanks,
Roger Featherstone GREEN Director
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GREEN is a project of Defenders of Wildlife designed to serve
grassroots wildlife and wildlands advocates. GREEN policy positions
do not necessarily represent those of Defenders of Wildlife.
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WHAT TO DO:
Sign your group on to the following letter. Send your group's name,
a contact person and address to .
The deadline for the letter is noon (MDT), Monday, October 4.
If you don't belong to a group, or cannot get your group's approval
in time, use this letter as an example for your own letter to the
President.
Spread this alert far and wide! This letter is very important!
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CANADIAN ESA SIGN-ON LETTER TO PRESIDENT CLINTON
October 5, 1999
The Honorable William Clinton President The White House 1600
Pennsylvania Ave. N.W. Washington, D.C. 20500
Dear Sir:
We are writing to ask that you urge the Canadian Government to move
swiftly and pass legislation protecting endangered species and their
habitat. It is particularly important that such a law protect the
habitat of the many endangered species that are shared between Canada
and the U.S.
As you may know, Canada has no federal endangered species
legislation. Worse still, only six of Canada's twelve provinces and
territories have such legislation (and even those six laws are
extremely weak). The situation is so bad that over 600 of Canada's
leading biological scientists recently wrote to the Prime Minister
urging him to take action on this issue. Canada's lack of endangered
species legislation is not just a Canadian problem, it is also
undermines species recovery efforts in the U.S.
There are currently 313 species listed as being endangered or `at
risk' in Canada. Nearly 80% of those species are ones that migrate
or range across the Canada-U.S. border (so called "cross-border"
species). For example, threatened grizzly bears in northern Montana
or Idaho range freely into southwestern Canada, where they can
legally be shot or have their habitat destroyed (despite being listed
as a `vulnerable' species in Canada) because of Canada's lack of
endangered species legislation. Other notable cross-border endangered
species include the marbled murrelet, woodland caribou, spotted owl,
eastern cougar and whooping crane - to name just a few. Each of
these species, and its habitat, receives legal protection in the
U.S., but not in Canada. The simple fact is these shared endangered
species can only be saved through effective protection in both
countries.
Canada's lack of endangered species legislation is indefensible.
Since 1992, many other nations - such as Mexico, Australia and Japan
- have passed strong laws protecting endangered species and their
habitat.
The Canadian government has been promising to pass such a law since
1994, but has not yet done so. The government did introduce an
endangered species bill in 1996, but that bill (which died when an
election was called in 1997) was widely criticized by media,
environmentalists and scientists for being too weak. In particular,
that 1996 bill did almost nothing to protect cross-border endangered
species because it did not protect their habitat. The bill would
have prohibited direct harm to cross-border species, but it would not
have prevented destruction of their habitat - which is the main
threat facing almost all endangered species.
Without strong legislation in Canada, including habitat protection,
U.S. efforts to protect our endangered species will be compromised.
All the time, energy and money which the U.S. is dedicating to
recovering the grizzly bear, spotted owl, marbled murrelet and many
other cross-border species will be severely hampered if those species
are not protected in the Canadian portion of their ranges.
Canada's lack of endangered species legislation is not only a serious
environmental problem, it also confers an unfair competitive
advantage on Canadian industries who, unlike their U.S. and Mexican
counterparts, do not have to bear the costs of protecting vanishing
species. For example, timber companies in British Columbia continue
to log public forest lands that are habitat for spotted owls, marbled
murrelets, salmon, grizzly bears and other threatened species (and
export much of this wood to the U.S.), whereas timber companies in
the Pacific Northwest have substantially reduced, or stopped, logging
in the habitat areas of these species.
As the U.S. and Canada work to liberalize trade across the two
countries' borders, they must also work together to address cross-
border environmental issues, of which endangered species are a prime
example. Indeed, the North American Agreement on Environmental
Cooperation specifically calls for cooperative efforts to protect
endangered species (in Articles 1 and 10 for example). Of the three
NAFTA countries, Canada is the only one which does not have
legislation protecting endangered species and their habitat.
The Government of Canada has promised to table a new endangered
species bill by the end of the year. Canada's new Environment
Minister, David Anderson, recently indicated that he would prefer a
law that protects species' habitat on all lands - which would be a
major improvement from the previous bill. However, there is strong
pressure from the provinces and certain industry groups for the
federal government to back down and not protect habitat. We strongly
urge you to contact Canada's Prime Minister and encourage him to
introduce this long- overdue legislation, and in particular, to
ensure that the new bill protects all endangered species that range
between Canada and the U.S. and their habitat -- as the U.S. ESA
does, and as Minister Anderson is now proposing. It is imperative
that Canada do its part to protect shared species at risk.
We hope that you will take advantage of this critical opportunity to
work with Canada to preserve North America's rich biological
heritage.
Signed,
Your Group and Hundreds More!