| Montreal, 15/03/2004 – On 12 March 2004, the Council of the Commission for Environmental Cooperation of North America (CEC) voted unanimously to instruct the CEC Secretariat to prepare a factual record on allegations that Canada is failing to effectively enforce Section 6(a) of the Migratory Bird Regulations (MBR) adopted under the Migratory Birds Convention Act, 1994, in regard to clearcut logging carried out in 49 forest management units (FMUs) in areas of central and northern Ontario in 2001. Section 6(a) of the MBR makes it an offense to disturb, destroy or take a nest or egg of a migratory bird without a permit.
The allegations were made in the Ontario Logging submission (SEM-02-001), filed with the Secretariat on 6 February 2002, by Sierra Legal Defence Fund on behalf of several Canadian and US environmental groups. By correlating projected harvest figures for 59 FMUs with available bird census data, the Submitters estimated that clear cutting activity in 2001 destroyed over 85,000 migratory bird nests in central and northern Ontario forests. They alleged that Environment Canada, through its Canadian Wildlife Service (CWS), has taken virtually no action to enforce Section 6(a) of the MBR in regard to this logging activity. Canada responded to the submission on 25 April 2002, and on 12 November 2002, the CEC Secretariat recommended to the Council preparation of a factual record. On 22 April 2003, in Council Resolution 03-05, the Council deferred its consideration of the Secretariat's recommendation pending receipt of additional information from the Submitters in support of their allegations. The Submitters provided additional information—including harvest data—to the Secretariat on 20 August 2003. Canada responded to the additional information on 17 October 2003. On 17 December 2003, the Secretariat again recommended that a factual record be developed.
On 12 March 2004, in Council Resolution 04-03, the Council instructed the Secretariat to prepare a factual record in regard to the assertions contained in the submission concerning clearcut logging activities carried out from 1 January to 31 December 2001, particularly with respect to the migratory bird nesting season, in 49 of the 59 FMUs identified in the original submission, including five of the remaining ten FMUs that through amalgamation are now part of the 49 FMUs. Excluded from the scope of the factual record is an FMU whose logging license was revoked (Kiashke River), and four FMUs (Cochrane, Shiningtree, Superior and Temagami Forests) for which the Submitters were unable to obtain harvest data from either the Ontario Ministry of Natural Resources or the logging company. Council Resolution 04-03 notes that the Submitters "may, if they wish, submit a new submission with the requisite sufficient information with respect to the four (4) forest management units for which information was not available."
The Council also directed the Secretariat to provide the Parties with its overall work plan for gathering the relevant facts and to provide the Parties with the opportunity to comment on that plan.
The full text of Council Resolution 04-03, as well as the submission, Canada's responses, the additional information provided by the Submitters and the Secretariat's factual record recommendation, are available on the CEC web site, at http://www.cec.org/citizen.
Article 14 of the North American Agreement on Environmental Cooperation (NAAEC) provides that the CEC Secretariat may consider a submission from any person or nongovernmental organization asserting that a Party to the NAAEC is failing to effectively enforce an environmental law. Where the Secretariat determines that the NAAEC Article 14(1) criteria are met, it may then proceed with a process that can lead to the development of a factual record on the matter.
The CEC was established under the NAAEC to address environmental issues in North America from a continental perspective, with a particular focus on those arising in the context of liberalized trade. The CEC Council, the organization's governing body, is composed of the top environment officials of Canada, Mexico and the United States.
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