Submission

Summary of the matter addressed in the submission:

The Submitters assert that the Canadian government is failing to effectively enforce its environmental laws with respect to the harp seal hunt that takes place in the Gulf of St. Lawrence and along the Newfoundland and Labrador coast in Canada every year in the spring.

In the submission, the Submitters assert that Canada, in particular Fisheries and Oceans Canada, is failing to effectively enforce Article 2(1) of the Canadian Environmental Protection Act and the preamble to the Oceans Act by failing to apply the precautionary principle when it sets the annual harp seal hunting quota and when it allowed the quota to be exceeded in four of the past five years. The Submitters also allege that most hunters do not strictly comply with the rules prescribing instruments and methods for killing seals (Articles 28 and 29 of the Marine Mammal Regulations adopted under the federal Fisheries Act). According to the Submitters, this shows that the authorities have failed to effectively enforce these provisions and the section of the Criminal Code outlawing cruelty to animals (446.1).

Names and citations of the environmental laws in question:

Article 2(1) of the Canadian Environmental Protection Act and the preamble to the Oceans Act.

Submitter(s):

Centro Mexicano de Derecho Ambiental A.C. (CEMDA), Conservación de Mamíferos Marinos de México, A.C. (COMARINO), and Humane Society International (revised submission)