The U.S. Center for Biological Diversity recently filed a petition at the Commission for Environmental Cooperation, that Canada is not effectively enforcing the Species At Risk Act (SARA) by failing to list and protect the Polar Bear as an endangered or threatened species.  Currently, the Polar Bear is listed as a species of special concern.  SARA sets up a process for listing that is intended to be based on objective science (the Committee on the Status of Endangered Wildlife in Canada or COSEWIC).  Although COSEWIC’s last evaluation raised alarm bells about the future of Polar Bears, the Minister has not listed them.  There are continued controversies over which population units of the Bears should be protected and how.

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