A municipality and an individual ordered to pay a total of $36,000 for destroying nests of endangered Bank Swallows

NEW CARLISLE, QC, Dec. 1, 2023 /CNW/ - Environment and Climate Change Canada wildlife enforcement officers work across the country to enforce the laws and regulations that protect and conserve wildlife and its habitat. Their work aims to reduce threats and damage to biodiversity for the benefit of Canadians and all living things.

On November 21, 2023, the municipality of Saint-Alphonse and Claude Chevalier were ordered by the Court of Québec to pay $30,000 and $6,000 respectively, at the New Carlisle Courthouse. The municipality and the individual pleaded guilty to one count each of violating the Migratory Birds Regulations under the Migratory Birds Convention Act, 1994. The charges stem from actions that led to the disturbance and destruction of Bank Swallow nests. The fines will be paid to the Government of Canada's Environmental Damages Fund.

In August 2021, Environment and Climate Change Canada enforcement officers opened an investigation into the destruction of swallow nests in a sandpit operated by the municipality of Saint-Alphonse, Quebec. Officers then discovered that Claude Chevalier, a heavy machinery operator employed by the municipality, had destroyed Bank Swallow nests in July 2021, during work on the sandpit where a Bank Swallow colony was nesting. In so doing, he committed an offence under paragraph 6(a) of the Migratory Birds Regulations, punishable under the Migratory Birds Convention Act, 1994. The municipality of Saint-Alphonse, which was ultimately responsible for carrying out the work, also committed a violation of paragraph 6(a) of the Regulations.

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• The Bank Swallow is an endangered migratory bird whose Canadian population has fallen by 98 percent over the past 40 years. This insectivorous bird is particularly attracted to sand and gravel pits, piles of sand and earth, and sandy embankments at the edges of water bodies and paths.
• Bank Swallows nest in burrows dug into exposed earth, primarily on the banks of ponds and rivers, but also in sand pits and gravel pits, and at some construction sites where vertical banks of earth are found. Individuals and companies can protect these birds by avoiding activities that could damage, destroy, or disturb their nests.
• The Bank Swallow is a protected species under the Migratory Birds Convention Act, 1994 and its Regulations. The Migratory Birds Regulations have been updated and the new Regulations came into force on July 30, 2022. The Bank Swallow is also a threatened species protected under the Species at Risk Act. According to the laws and their regulations, anyone who kills, hunts, captures, injures, or harasses a migratory bird or damages, destroys, removes or disturbs their nests, eggs, or residence (burrow) without a permit or regulatory authorization is committing a punishable offence.
• Created in 1995, the Environmental Damages Fund is a Government of Canada program administered by Environment and Climate Change Canada. The Fund helps ensure that court-awarded penalties are used to repair environmental damage or benefit the environment. The Fund receives and redirects the money from court penalties and settlements and aims to invest in areas where the environmental damage occurred.

• Migratory Birds Convention Act, 1994
• Migratory Birds Regulations
• Migratory Birds Regulations, 2022
• Bank Swallow (Riparia riparia): In Sandpits and Quarries
• Environmental Damages Fund

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SOURCE Environment and Climate Change Canada