Environmentalists in court to extend protection for killer whales

VICTORIA — Environmental groups will be in court this week arguing the federal government is failing to adequately protect critical habitat for endangered and threatened pods of killer whales.

Ecojustice lawyer Margot Venton is asking the Federal Court of Canada for a judicial review, claiming the government is acting unlawfully by interpreting critical habitat only as physical space, instead of ensuring there is salmon for the whales to eat, the water is not overly polluted and whales are not subjected to excessive noise.

“The reason that this is critical habitat is that the areas are natural funnels for migrating salmon — that is why the whales are there,” said Venton, who is acting for the David Suzuki Foundation, Dogwood Initiative, Environmental Defence Canada, Greenpeace Canada, International Fund for Animal Welfare, Raincoast Conservation Society, Sierra Club of Canada and Western Canada Wilderness Committee.

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The environmental groups initially sued the federal government for failing to protect critical whale habitat in 2008. Last year, they claimed victory when the government issued an order setting out the boundaries of critical habitat, which included Juan de Fuca Strait and the southern Strait of Georgia.