| Montreal, 27/01/1997 – The Government of Canada has responded to a citizen submission filed by The Friends of the Old Man River, a nongovernmental organization in Alberta. The submission, filed under the environmental side agreement to NAFTA, alleges irregularities in the enforcement of the habitat protection sections of the Fisheries Act and the Canadian Environmental Assessment Act.
In response, the Canadian Environment Minister, Sergio Marchi, said: Pursuant to Article 14(3) of the Agreement, I advise the Secretariat that the matter raised in this submission is the subject of a pending judicial or administrative proceeding before the Federal Court of Canada.
The Secretariat of the Commission for Environmental Cooperation -- otherwise known as the NAFTA environment commission -- will now review the submission, in light of the response from Canada, and inform the Council whether or not, in its view, an inquiry to gather factual information -- known as a “factual record” -- is warranted. If the Secretariat is of the opinion that a factual record should be developed, the CEC Council composed of the Environment Ministers, or their equivalent, of the three NAFTA countries, then votes on whether to proceed with such an inquiry.
Under Articles 14 and 15 of the North American Agreement on Environmental Cooperation (NAAEC), any nongovernmental organization or person may file a submission with the Secretariat of the CEC asserting that one of the NAFTA countries is failing to effectively enforce its environmental laws.
The CEC, which is equally funded by Canada, Mexico and the United States, is based in Montreal, Canada.
The registry of submissions, as well as more information on the submission process, is available on the Internet at the following address: http:///www.cec.org |
