2021 September 29
Chorus frogs in danger in Longueuil: the CQDE and SNAP Québec formally call on the federal government to take action
Montreal, September 29, 2021 – This week, the Centre québécois du droit de l’environnement (CQDE) and SNAP Québec formally requested that the federal government intervene to protect the critical habitat of the chorus frog, which is currently threatened by work to extend Boulevard Béliveau and associated housing developments in the area.
To ensure the amphibian’s recovery, the two organizations are urging the government to issue an emergency order to protect Quebec’s smallest frog under the Species at Risk Act. This request is in addition to a formal demand sent by a citizen to Canada’s Minister of Environment and Climate Change on September 10, 2021. At this stage and in light of the urgency of the situation, the two organizations do not exclude any measure to force the government to take action.
“Faced with the inaction of the provincial government, the federal government has the power and the duty to intervene to protect the critical habitat of this threatened species. As work is already underway, a response by the federal government is urgently needed to say the least,” contends Geneviève Paul, Executive Director of the CQDE.
“There is currently a broad consensus among federal politicians that the government should move quickly on this issue. The Quebec government has not yet learned the lessons from the emergency order in La Prairie in 2016 and is not effectively protecting the species’ critical habitats,” adds Alain Branchaud, Executive Director of SNAP Québec.
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