Enforcing Canadian environmental and wildlife laws is one important way that Environment and Climate Change Canada is taking action to protect wildlife and nature.
On July 4, 2024, at the Sainte-Anne-des-Monts courthouse, Les Entreprises Énia Lafontaine was ordered by the Court of Québec to pay a fine of $12,500. The company pleaded guilty to one count of violating the Species at Risk Act. The charge stems from actions that damaged or destroyed Bank Swallow nests. The fine will be paid to the Receiver General for Canada.
In June 2022, Environment and Climate Change Canada enforcement officers received a report from Quebec's Ministère des Forêts, de la Faune et des Parcs indicating that a Bank Swallow colony was threatened by excavation work carried out below their nests in a sandpit. Officers proceeded to the site and found that heavy machinery was removing material at the base of a sand wall where swallows were nesting. At the site, the officers saw the walls collapse, destroying the Bank Swallow nests in the process.
The investigation determined that Les Entreprises Énia Lafontaine was responsible for the work done that damaged or destroyed Bank Swallow nests. In so doing, they committed an offence under section 33 of the Species at Risk Act.
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