champ-des-monarques-asclépiades–françois-riou-2048

Technoparc Oiseaux outraged
by government response

Minister of Transport and Canadian Government reject calls to protect lands north of Pierre-Elliott-Trudeau Airport

Montreal, December 6, 2022

The group Technoparc Oiseaux is outraged by the government’s response to Federal Petition No. 441-00769 in the House of Commons on December 5, 2022. The petition called for the protection of federal lands north of the PET-YUL airport, which are of significant and rare ecological value in an urban environment.

Transport Minister Omar Alghabra contends that the lease with Aéroports de Montréal (ADM) cannot be unilaterally modified, and goes so far as to say that ADM “has demonstrated its environmental commitment by implementing measures protecting the ecosystem and its biodiversity at the Montreal-Trudeau Airport.” It should be noted that ADM razed 20 hectares – 2 million square feet – of common milkweed and other flowering plants crucial to the site’s pollinators in June 2022, during the protected nesting season for birds, and is being investigated by Environment and Climate Change Canada on this account.

On the eve of COP-15, when the Canadian government is considering officially registering the Monarch butterfly as endangered, such a decision to not protect the site goes against the will of Greater Montreal, representing 4 million Quebec residents, 25 of whose municipalities have passed unanimous resolutions to protect the area. If the federal government cannot protect its own lands and the at-risk species that frequent them, including the Monarch butterfly and numerous species of birds, who will?

• The full text of the petition and the Canadian government’s official response

• The public is invited to listen to experts talk about the biodiversity of the site on Wednesday, December 7 from 1:30 to 3pm at UQAM (Coeur des Sciences, Salle Chaufferie)

Technoparc Oiseaux’s open letter

Contact: Benoit Gravel or Katherine Collin at tparcbirds@gmail.com

Feature image: Monarch Fields, © François Riou / Technoparc Oiseaux

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Technoparc Oiseaux is a citizen-mobilization group of over 4800 members working to protect and restore the wetlands, rewilded greenspaces, and natural habitats of the Technoparc and adjacent federal lands.


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