| Montreal, 5/02/2007 – The Secretariat of the Commission for Environmental Cooperation (CEC) today released a factual record on allegations that Canada is failing to effectively enforce the pollution prevention provisions of the Fisheries Act and provisions of the Pulp and Paper Effluent Regulations, or PPER, against pulp and paper mills in Quebec, Ontario and the Atlantic provinces.
The SEM-02-003 (Pulp and Paper) submission was filed with the CEC on 8 May 2002, by Sierra Legal Defence Fund (SLDF) on behalf of Friends of the Earth, Union Saint-Laurent, Grand Lacs, Conservation Council of New Brunswick, Ecology Action Centre and Environment North. On 11 December 2003, in Council Resolution 03-16 the CEC Council voted unanimously to instruct the CEC Secretariat to prepare a factual record with respect to the submission.
Factual records provide information regarding asserted failures to effectively enforce environmental law in North America that may assist submitters, government and other interested members of the public in taking any action they deem appropriate in regard to the matters addressed. Pursuant to Council Resolution 03-16, which determined its scope, this factual record provides information regarding Canada’s alleged failures to effectively enforce section 36(3) of the Fisheries Act, alleged effluent test failures, and failure to conduct follow-up tests as required under the PPER, with respect to the following mills and time periods:
- Irving Pulp and Paper Ltd. at Saint John, NB from 1996 to 2000;
- AV Cell Inc. at Atholville, NB for 2000;
- Abitibi-Consolidated (ACI) at Grand Falls, NL for 2000;
- Bowater Mersey Paper Company Ltd. at Brooklyn, NS for 2000;
- Fjordcell Inc. at Jonquière, QC for 2000;
- Interlake Papers at St. Catharines, ON for 2000;
- Tembec Inc. at St. Raymond, QC for 2000;
- Uniforêt-Pâte Port Cartier Inc. at Port-Cartier, QC for 2000;
- F.F. Soucy Inc. at Rivière-du-Loup, QC for 2000; and
- La Compagnie J. Ford Ltd. at Portneuf, QC for 2000.
A summary of facts is included in the factual record.
In developing the factual record, the Secretariat considered publicly available information, information provided by the Parties to the North American Agreement on Environmental Cooperation (NAAEC) and others, and technical information developed by the Secretariat through independent experts.
On 28 June 2006, the Secretariat submitted the final factual record to the CEC Council. On 31 January 2007, in its Resolution 07-03, the Council voted unanimously to instruct the Secretariat to make public the factual record.
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 Council, the organization's governing body, is composed of the top environment officials of Canada, Mexico and the United States.
The citizen submissions mechanism of the CEC enables the public to play a whistle-blower role on matters of environmental law enforcement. Under Article 14 of the NAAEC, any person or nongovernmental organization may submit a claim alleging that a NAFTA partner has failed to effectively enforce its environmental law.
For more information, please visit the CEC's Citizen Submissions on Enforcement Matters page. |
