Overview of Provincial Wildlife Laws

Abstract

This publication, the third in a series of papers on Canadian Wildlife Law, provides an overview of wildlife legislation encompassing all ten provinces and three territories in Canada. The paper explains the basic scheme of the wildlife statutes and outlines the commonalities and differences from jurisdiction to jurisdiction. First, it describes the traditional wildlife management mechanisms that are typically utilized in wildlife laws in order to achieve wildlife management goals. It then focuses on the habitat protection provisions of wildlife statutes. These provisions illustrate the broadening in focus of wildlife management techniques starting in the wildlife management era (1960s and 1970s). Finally, the paper provides an overview of legislative provisions that have been enacted for the protection of species at risk, either as stand-alone legislation or as new provisions inserted in existing wildlife statutes.