Crown seeks prosecutor with Wildlife Act experience for charges against shipping company
Transport Desgagnés Inc. accused of entering protected waters on 2 occasions in 2024
Proceedings relating to Transport Desgagnés Inc., a shipping company charged under the federal Wildlife Act, are adjourned to Oct. 20. (File photo)
The chemical / oil tanker Sarah Desgagnés sits anchored outside Salluit in 2015 in this file photo. (File photo by Paulusie Saviadjuk)
Court proceedings against Transport Desgagnés Inc. are adjourned until Oct. 20 as the Crown looks for a prosecutor with experience with the Canada Wildlife Act, the law the Quebec company is accused of breaking.
“Given the nature of the file, we asked for someone who does this kind of prosecution more regularly,” Crown prosecutor Emma Baasch said Monday in an Iqaluit courtroom.
Transport Desgagnés Inc. is a shipping company that manages a number of marine transport operations, including sealift services to Nunavut and Nunavik.
The company is charged with operating a vessel in Akpait National Wildlife Area on Sept. 29, 2024, and Oct. 6, 2024.
The Akpait National Wildlife Area, approximately 130 kilometres south of Qikiqtarjuaq, is a feeding ground for thick-billed murres and other seabirds. It’s one of the “most important” seabird areas of the eastern Arctic, according to Environment and Climate Change Canada.
The shipping company’s representative has told Nunatsiaq News the company is taking the matter “very seriously,” but declined to comment on the legal proceedings.
Great use of court resources and taxpayer’s dollars guys. This should take an easy two years to figure out how much to fine a company for sailing past some birds. Who cares what the weather was like, how big the swells may have been at the time, and if the community really needed that re-supply on time. Think of the birds!
Also the cost will just be passed along to Nunavut residents in increased freight costs on our goods.