e-4356 (Environment)

Petition to the Minister of Environment and Climate Change

• The Port of Vancouver is proposing to double the size of its shipping terminal at Roberts Bank in the Fraser River Estuary in BC;
• The project would create a new 108 hectare concrete island in the middle of the estuary;
• Terminal 2 will further destroy habitat in an estuary that has already lost more than 70% of its floodplain habitat;
• The Fraser Estuary supports 102 species considered at-risk of extinction;
• The Fraser River Estuary is habitat for at-risk species, including endangered Southern Resident killer whales and Fraser Chinook salmon, the former of which are listed under Schedule 1 of the Species at Risk Act;
• Fraser River Chinook salmon are a transboundary species that are subject to the international Pacific Salmon Treaty. They are of ecological, economic, and cultural importance;
• Southern Resident killer whales have legally-protected Critical Habitat in the Fraser estuary;
• The federal Impact Assessment Agency identified irreversible impacts that Terminal 2 would have on Southern Resident killer whales, Fraser River Chinook salmon, and other wildlife;
• The federal Impact Assessment Agency determined that the project impacts on Southern Resident killer whales from decreased abundance of Fraser Chinook within critical habitat would constitute a violation of the Species at Risk Act; and
• Canada’s commitments to species recovery and biodiversity, as stated at COP15, run contrary to approval of Terminal 2.