The Burns Bog Conservation Society has lost an appeal of an earlier court decision of its lawsuit against the federal government.
The Federal Court of Appeal in Vancouver recently threw out the society’s legal action in a case involving the South Fraser Perimeter Road.
The society had taken Ottawa to Federal Court a couple of years ago, claiming the government breached an environmental covenant to protect the bog when the highway was allowed to be constructed in proximity to the wetland.
The group and others opposed to the alignment of the SFPR had said the new highway would have a significant impact, despite the Gateway Program’s assurances that mitigation measures would address those concerns.
The society also contended the highway’s proximity contravenes the Canadian Environmental Assessment Act and the federal Species at Risk Act.
Using a grant from West Coast Environmental Law, the society launched a lawsuit, however a Federal Court judge ruled against the group, prompting it to file an appeal in 2012.
Society president Eliza Olson at the time maintained the SFPR is an infringement of the government’s obligations under a conservation covenant.
The society, which didn’t name the Corporation of Delta in the lawsuit, also said it believed the SFPR alignment threatens the bog’s very survival.
However, Justice J.A Gauthier said in his view there was no error that would justify the Federal Court of Appeal’s intervention, so the appeal should be dismissed with costs.
“I am satisfied that he (trial judge) was not limiting himself to factual situations already encountered in the case law and kept an open mind as to what new circumstances these principles could apply to. I find no error in his articulation of the law or in his application of these legal principles to the facts of this case,” Gauthier stated in his reasons for judgment.
The SFPR, now officially called Highway 17, opened in its entirety late last year.
Two years ago Burns Bog was granted Ramsar status, an international recognition of the importance of the wetlands.
In 2004, four partners - federal, provincial, regional and municipal governments - jointly purchased 2,042 hectares (5,045 acres) of Burns Bog to be protected as an ecological conservancy area.
