Blacklock's Reporter

Environment Canada says hunting ammunition may pose an ecological hazard.

The department is reviewing the environmental impact of lead bullets, estimating tons of the material litter forests and shooting ranges nationwide.

Industry officials noted lead remains a popular, inexpensive ingredient in ammunition, but said there was no evidence lead posed an environmental risk.

“There is a big push on this from the lefties in the States,” said Kurt Thomas, an ammunition manufacturer.

“The military shoots off tons of this,” said Thomas, president of Canadian BDX of Black Diamond, Alta. “How many trillions of rounds of lead were fired in Belgium in World War One, yet their farmland is productive and the people are healthy.”

Environment Minister Leona Aglukkaq did not comment.

Aglukkaq’s department proposed to study “patterns of lead ammunition from hunting and sport shooting activities” and their effect.

Firearms have left more than 1,000 tonnes of lead in the environment, officials estimated. The department proposed a study of practices in Japan, South Korea, the European Union and United States. The State of California last month became the first in America to restrict lead in hunting ammunition.

“There is no issue here; this is a political correctness issue,” said Tony Bernardo, acting executive director of the Canadian Sporting Arms & Ammunition Association. “California spews millions of tons of lead into the air from diesel and jet fuel; that is far more prevalent than any lead from hunting ammunition.”

Bernardo said numerous shooting clubs in Canada have reclaimed lead from firing ranges without any evidence of environmental harm.

“It’s not like it goes into the water table and floats downstream,” said Bernardo. “We’ve had several ranges that are very conscious of this issue and have repeatedly tested their soil and nearby water sources for contamination – without result.”

The international study is scheduled for completion in 2015.

In 1999, Environment Canada banned the use of lead shot in National Wildlife Areas, and restricted its use nationwide by hunters of all species of migratory birds and water fowl with the exception of murres, woodcock and band-tailed pigeons, and mourning doves.

“The Government of Canada has committed to further reducing the exposure of lead,” Environment Canada reported in a notice; “Lead is associated with risks to human health, including developmental neurotoxicity, neurodegenerative, cardiovascular, renal and reproductive effects. Known environmental hazards of lead include toxicity to birds, fish and crustaceans.”

By Tom Korski

Environment Canada is being cited by industry, science and advocacy groups for failing to comply with its own standards.

Delegates to an Ottawa conference said the department had failed to meet its mandates. The criticism echoed a November 5 report to Parliament by the Commissioner of the Environment. The document warned policies were so weakly managed cabinet did not meet its legal obligations.

“One, the federal government needs to do its job,” said Avrim Lazar, retired CEO of the Forest Products Association of Canada. “Two, there is a huge opportunity for a leadership model with the federal government for convening the interests in society to come up with collective solutions – and then listening to the solutions.”

Lazar, a former assistant deputy minister at Environment Canada, was speaking at a conference Conserving Canada’s Biodiversity: Connecting the Dots, organized by the University of Ottawa’s Institute of the Environment.

Environment Commissioner Neil Maxwell told the Commons in his Fall 2013 Report that regulators often failed to meet objectives under initiatives like the Species At Risk Act, the Convention on Biological Diversity, and parks management of natural areas.

“We aren’t meeting our own standards,” said Nik Lopoukine, International Union for Conservation of Nature’s former chair on protected areas; “You are leading by perception.”

An industry group, the Canadian Electricity Association, said enforcement of regulations is so inadequate that ecosystems are at risk.

“We are in agreement largely with the commissioner’s report,” Sandra Schwartz, association vice president of external relations, told the conference; “We are losing ground. The ecosystems are deteriorating and governments are not doing their job entirely – and industry requires government to do its job.”

Environment Canada, Parks Canada and the Department of Fisheries and Oceans were all cited by the commissioner for falling short of legal obligations.

Commissioner Maxwell, speaking to the Commons environment committee, said a current backlog of assessments under the Species At Risk Act, alone will take a decade to clear.

“I’d simply highlight the importance of getting those tools in place,” said Maxwell. “It is a concern that of the over 500 species at risk in Canada, at the moment only seven have the recovery strategy and the action plan necessary.”

By Kaven Baker-Voakes