Conservationists call for more federal enforcement of Species at Risk Act violations in Alberta

Greg Colgan · CBC News

· Posted: Aug 21, 2026 8:00 AM EDT | Last Updated: August 21

Some groups are calling for improved enforcement to protect species at risk in Alberta after Fisheries and Oceans Canada (DFO) halted an investigation due to a lack of resources.

DFO's two-year investigation of an unapproved bridge built by Spray Lake Sawmills over the Highwood River in Kananaskis Country found "reasonable and probable grounds” that federal law was broken and critical habitat for threatened bull trout was disturbed, according to internal documents obtained by CBC.

But the federal department stopped its work to focus on other investigations due to limited resources, internal emails show.

Access to information documents obtained by the CBC indicated that on-the-ground DFO staff wanted to move ahead with charges in the Highwood investigation.

• DFO finds 'critical habitat' for fish destroyed, but investigation called off, logging permits issued

In a 2023 site visit where three DFO staff investigated the unapproved bridge, they found “destruction of critical habitat for bull trout,” the documents showed.

The outgoing investigator wrote in a Feb. 14, 2025, email to three DFO staffers that he hoped the investigation could be "carried over the finish line by the Edmonton team.”

But a little over a month later, the Edmonton office recommended DFO stop the investigation and use resources on other files, internal documents showed. The office argued the investigation will “require significant resources” and “there is a risk of neglecting these files if Highwood remains the focus of our resources.”

An April 16, 2025, email said “the decision was made that it was not in the public interest to proceed with a prosecution” in the Highwood area.

Josh Killeen, conservation science and programs manager with Canadian Parks and Wilderness Society Southern Alberta, said while it was disappointing DFO halted the investigation, he was not surprised.

"It’s quite typical for what we see with the Species at Risk Act in this region is the enforcement of those laws is really not where it needs to be," said Killeen.

But he added “it’s critically important the laws we have are meaningfully and properly enforced.”

More field visits needed

Violating the federal Species at Risk Act can result in stiff fines and penalties, including possible jail time, if a person or organization is found guilty. Fines can total up to $250,000 for an individual or $1 million for a company.

The law is coordinated by Environment and Climate Change Canada. DFO looks after protection and recovery of aquatic species at risk.

Sam Di Lorenzo, a spokesperson for DFO, said the last conviction in Alberta under the Species at Risk Act was in 2019. The federal department said two charges have been laid in the last two years and are in the courts.

Shaun Fluker, executive director of the Public Interest Law Clinic at the University of Calgary, said the act's requirements are all for naught, if they're not enforced.

“If there’s no field visit or survey done, it’s really an amorphous thing,” he said.

Killeen noted the Highwood investigation only started when the public alerted DFO. He said it shouldn’t be left to non-profits and the public to launch field visits.

“It’s Fisheries and Oceans Canada's job, and yet they have a real lack of presence on the ground doing this work and I think that’s a big part of the problem,” said Killeen.

• Construction of bridge in Kananaskis puts threatened trout species at risk, activists say

Jordan Charbonneau, regional director of communications for DFO in the Arctic, Ontario and Prairies regions, said they were unable to say how many resources the federal department has to “preserve the integrity of its investigative operations.”

In access to information documents, hundreds of redacted pages confirm the Department of Justice was involved in the Highwood investigation.

Fluker said he understands resources could be an issue, but he believes the department is reluctant to engage on issues under the Species at Risk Act that overlap with provincial jurisdiction.

“They’re just applying the legislation as drafted by Parliament. I don’t know why they have an institutional reluctance to show they’re going to push back a little on projects,” he said.

WATCH | Blockade protests project they argue could threaten at-risk trout population:

‘Trying to do too many things all at once’

The Highwood area is home to threatened bull trout.

Killeen said erosion entering into critical habitat for native species like threatened westslope cutthroat trout and bull trout “impacts their chance to survive and reproduce.”

Sediment can make it more difficult for trout to find food, and smother their eggs, preventing them from exchanging oxygen.

Killeen said volunteers and non-profits have documented several issues with erosion and sediment near logging roads, but “cases rarely reach enforcement stages.” He added that while there are financial penalties, they're often too low, meaning “these things keep happening.”

“I think we really need a much stronger tact from DFO to take these issues seriously," he said.

"It means the species are being lost."

• Conservation group contesting Kananaskis logging project in court

Dave Mayhood, a science advisor for the Timberwolf Wilderness Society, said the Species at Risk Act has “a great deal of conservation biology built into it.”

However, he said the Highwood decision fell short of what the society believed to be proper evidence to warrant a permit being issued for the logging project.

Timberwolf launched legal action in federal court earlier this year against the Minister of Fisheries and West Fraser Timber, contesting the project. West Fraser bought Spray Lakes Sawmills and removed the Highwood bridge in 2024.

“They talk about protecting and recovering [threatened and at-risk species], but so much of the essential work that has to be done is not getting done," said Mayhood.

Charbonneau said the permit was issued after the DFO found “impacts to fish and fish habitat, including species at risk and their critical habitat, would be avoided, mitigated or adequately offset.”

Fluker said in an area like Kananaskis with recreation, commercial operations and tourism “we’re just trying to do too many things all at once in the same place at the same time.”

“If the goal is to have species survive you just can’t allow the operations in that area," said Fluker.

"Both the federal and provincial governments continue to try to spin a tale for the public that somehow we can do both. It can’t be done.”