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    Public interest litigation

    Ongoing public interest litigation

    Protection of the Copper Redhorse’s Critical Habitat – Contrecœur Terminal Expansion

    On February 9, 2026, the Canadian Parks and Wilderness Society (CPAWS) and the Quebec Environmental Law Centre (CQDE) filed an application for judicial review in Federal Court challenging the decision of the federal Minister of Fisheries to authorize the construction of a new port terminal in Contrecœur.

    Through this legal action, the plaintiffs are trying to protect the copper redhorse (Moxostoma hubbsi), a threatened species of fish found only in one place in the world: Quebec. It is only found in the freshwater section of the St. Lawrence River between Lake Saint-Louis and Lake Saint-Pierre, and in a few of its tributaries.

    A first claim for judicial review, filed by the same plaintiffs in 2021, led to the adoption of a ministerial order enforcing the prohibition on destroying the copper redhorse’s critical habitat. This order, which is mandatory under the Species at Risk Act, establishes a protection mechanism aimed at prohibiting the destruction of any element of the critical habitat of an aquatic species listed as endangered, such as the copper redhorse.

    The Minister of Fisheries’ decision to issue the permit allowing for the construction of a new port terminal in Contrecœur will result in the destruction of a portion of the copper redhorse’s critical habitat unless it is revoked.

    Despite the protection afforded by the May 2021 ministerial order, this permit authorises the Montreal Port Authority (MPA) to destroy 18,800 m² of the copper redhorse’s critical habitat. By issuing this permit, the Minister of Fisheries is violating the Species at Risk Act, which establishes specific criteria for authorizing activities within the critical habitat of a species at risk. The Minister is also failing to uphold Canada’s international commitments under the Kunming-Montreal Global Biodiversity Framework.

    With this application, CPAWS and the CQDE are seeking to overturn the Minister of Fisheries’ decision to issue the permit authorizing the construction of the port in Contrecœur and to prevent the destruction of a portion of the copper redhorse’s critical habitat.

    Procedures and judgments

    Procedures