This article was originally published as an op-ed in the Vancouver Sun on June 4, 2026. Read the original article here.
Since this was written, a few important things have changed:
Prime Minister Mark Carney’s federal government extended the consultation period for its proposed environmental law changes. Now any new legislation will be delayed until the fall.
The Alberta government submitted an application for a new southern route oil pipeline to the Major Projects Office. The proposal includes a new pipeline, which will largely following the route of the existing Trans Mountain Pipeline, with a new marine terminal at Roberts Banks in Delta, B.C.
Picture an animal that symbolizes Canada’s West Coast. You are likely picturing a Southern Resident Killer Whale, whose main home is the Salish Sea between Vancouver and Vancouver Island. During Orca Action Month, and on World Oceans Day, the Carney government is expected to table legislation seeking Trump-like powers to sacrifice any species at risk for any projects and these iconic whales now have a target on their dorsal fins.
A population on the brink
The Southern Residents are among the best-studied animals in the world. Each individual is identified by unique markings, named, and counted in an annual census. They were badly affected by captures for aquariums in past decades. After recovery that peaked in the 1990s, the population began to fall due to not enough Chinook salmon, underwater noise that disrupts hunting and communication, and pollution in the Salish Sea. As of the latest official count, only 74 remain. Because they do not breed with other killer whales, this is a very small and at-risk population. The federal government has confirmed twice that they face “imminent threats” to their survival.
But the Southern Residents are far more than these grim statistics. They hold deep cultural and spiritual significance for local First Nations. They are intensely social animals with a distinct culture and language. They live in matriarchal family units grouped into three extended pods, each carrying its own unique dialect passed down from mothers and close kin to calves. Grandmothers play a vital role, passing down knowledge to younger generations, including foraging skills that directly improve survival. They share food with one another, reinforcing bonds across generations. Their culture also appears in lighter, almost whimsical behaviours, such as wearing salmon as hats, as well as in profoundly sobering acts of grief, including carrying dead calves for days through the water.
Why the law matters
The Species at Risk Act was passed in 2002 to protect species like the Southern Residents and to meet Canada’s commitments to protect biodiversity. No government since then has tried to weaken it. The main challenge has been making sure ministers use tools like emergency protection orders and meet deadlines for identifying critical habitat and other steps to protect species, which are chronically backlogged.
In contrast to the discretionary or proactive provisions in the Act, the no-jeopardy requirement draws a red line against allowing harm. To achieve the Act’s purposes of preventing extinction and providing for recovery, it prevents a minister issuing a permit for a project or activity that will jeopardize a species’ very survival or its ability to recover.
Prime Minister Carney is proposing that his Cabinet be allowed to exempt projects from the no-jeopardy requirement. Carving out an exemption to allow extinction would copy a feature of the US Endangered Species Act, where a committee nicknamed the “God squad” can override extinction protections. Recently, under Trump, the “God squad” authorized risking the extinction of rare whale and sea turtles for oil drilling in the Gulf of Mexico.
According to government sources reported in the media, the jeopardy exemption for the Species at Risk Act has been proposed with the Southern Residents in mind.
The Salish Sea under pressure
The Southern Residents already have the misfortune of living in the heavily industrialized Salish Sea. They face tanker traffic, the Trans Mountain pipeline expansions, the Roberts Bank Terminal 2 project, and possible future oil pipelines ending in the Salish Sea.
All of these projects stand to jeopardize the Southern Residents’ survival. Carney’s proposed exemption would allow the federal government and proponents to move forward with projects without doing the work to avoid pushing endangered species to extinction.
The Southern Residents are often seen as sentinels of the Salish Sea. Their decline is like a warning light on a dashboard, showing the ecosystem is in trouble. And once they are gone, that extinction is forever. Sacrificing these whales would be a permanent loss in exchange for a short-lived economic benefit.
The Species at Risk Act says wildlife has value in and of itself and is important to Canadians. If the Act is weakened to allow risk to this iconic West Coast population, no species, from caribou to monarch butterflies, will be safe.
There is still time to choose a different path. Canadians can say that protecting nature is not optional, even when development pressure is high. It’s not too late to demand a path forward that preserves our natural heritage.