The Basics of Species at Risk Legislation in Alberta

20 Pages Posted: 15 Jun 2015

See all articles by Shaun Fluker

Shaun Fluker

University of Calgary - Faculty of Law

Jocelyn Stacey

University of British Columbia (UBC), Faculty of Law

Date Written: 2012

Abstract

This article examines Alberta's Wildlife Act and the federal Species at Risk Act (SARA) to assess the legal protection of endangered species in Alberta. Most of the discussion related to provisions contained in SARA, as there is comparatively less to discuss under the Wildlife Act. The fact that legal protection for endangered species in Alberta consists primarily of federal statutory rules is unfortunate, as wildlife and its habitat are by and large property of the provincial Crown, and it is a general principle of constitutional law that the federal government cannot in substance legislate over provincial property under the guise of a regulatory scheme. The legal protections in SARA are, thus, for the most part restricted to species found on federal lands and to species that fall under federal legislative powers. This article demonstrates that the Alberta government has chosen to govern species at risk almost entirely by policy and discretionary power. The limited application of federal protections to provincial lands and the absence of meaningful protection in the Wildlife Act leads the authors to conclude that, despite a perception of legal protection for endangered species, such protection does not exist in Alberta.

Keywords: environmental law, endangered species, federalism

Suggested Citation

Fluker, Shaun and Stacey, Jocelyn, The Basics of Species at Risk Legislation in Alberta (2012). Alberta Law Review, Vol. 50, No. 1, 2012, Available at SSRN: https://ssrn.com/abstract=2618168

Shaun Fluker (Contact Author)

University of Calgary - Faculty of Law ( email )

Murray Fraser Hall
2500 University Dr. N.W.
Calgary, Alberta T2N 1N4
Canada

Jocelyn Stacey

University of British Columbia (UBC), Faculty of Law ( email )

1822 East Mall
Vancouver, British Columbia V6T 1Z1
Canada

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