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Lawsuit Seeks Emergency Protection for Endangered Piping Plovers at Wasaga Beach

Media Release: ENGOs launch urgent Federal Court challenge under Species at Risk Act to prevent irreversible critical habitat damage.

Piping plover, Lake Huron © Merri-Lee

Toronto | Traditional territories of the Mississaugas of the Credit, the Anishinaabeg, the Haudenosaunee, and the Wendat, April 20, 2026 – Ecojustice, on behalf of Environmental Defence and Ontario Nature, has filed a lawsuit in the Federal Court against the Minister of Environment and Climate Change, Julie Dabrusin, and the Town of Wasaga Beach, seeking urgent action to protect one of Canada’s most fragile and important endangered species habitats.

The lawsuit seeks an order from the Court forcing Minister Dabrusin to issue an emergency order recommendation under the Species at Risk Act (SARA) to protect the Piping Plover’s critical habitat on Wasaga Beach from damage by the Town and third parties.

This legal action comes in response to disturbing evidence that suggests the Town has begun damaging parts of Ontario’s most important Piping Plover breeding ground on Wasaga Beach — a place where these tiny, fragile, sand-coloured shorebirds return each spring to nest and reproduce.

The Piping Plover is an endangered migratory bird, with its Ontario population down to just seven breeding pairs in 2025. Since the species returned to nest in Ontario in 2007, after being gone for 30 years, provincial legal protections allowed Wasaga Beach to become the province’s most reliable and productive nesting site.

Around 70% of all Ontario-fledged Piping Plovers that have survived to adulthood originated from this single stretch of shoreline. This habitat is so unique that the federal government has recognized Beach Area 1, one of eight sections of Wasaga Beach, as critical habitat for the Piping Plover.

Unfortunately, in an egregious move last year, Ontario repealed its Endangered Species Act and removed Beach Area 1 from protection within Wasaga Beach Provincial Park, leaving this critical habitat newly exposed to damage and destruction by the Town and other parties.

For months, legal and wildlife experts have warned Minister Dabrusin that she must initiate an emergency protection order, as Ontario’s withdrawal from protecting this habitat has triggered an imminent threat to the survival and recovery of the species.

Three months on, those urgent warnings are becoming reality.

On or around April 13, 2026, the Town appears to have begun mechanically raking parts of Piping Plover critical habitat on Beach Area 1. Mechanical raking uses a tractor-pulled machine that drags hundreds of steel rods through the sand, flattening and clearing the beach. This process completely wrecks the natural features that allow Piping Plovers to successfully nest and reproduce. There is also evidence of motorized vehicles throughout critical habitat, another activity that damages important habitat features

These recent developments show that the Town’s unenforceable commitments, including those made as recently as last week, cannot justify any further delay in federal protection.

Allowing these activities to proceed on Beach Area 1 poses an extraordinary threat to the species’ survival and recovery. If this sensitive habitat continues to be damaged or destroyed, the birds may be unable to nest successfully this spring — or may not return at all. Further, the Piping Plover faces imminent threats from planned commercial development and increased tourist activity at Wasaga Beach, which are no longer effectively limited by provincial law.

Stopping the destruction of this habitat and interference with the Piping Plover’s life processes is now the federal government’s sole responsibility. A failure to act is very likely to result in the extirpation of the species from Ontario.

With the Piping Plover once again on the brink of disappearing from Ontario, there is no time to wait. The moment to act is now — before the birds return to a beach that can no longer support them or worse, never return at all.

About

Environmental Defence is a leading Canadian advocacy organization that works with government, industry and individuals to defend clean water, a safe climate and healthy communities.

Ecojustice uses the power of the law to defend nature, combat climate change, and fight for a healthy environment. Its strategic, public interest lawsuits and advocacy lead to precedent-setting court decisions and law and policy that deliver lasting solutions to Canada’s most urgent environmental problems. As Canada’s largest environmental law charity, Ecojustice operates offices in Vancouver, Calgary, Toronto, Ottawa, and Halifax.

Ontario Nature protects wild species and wild spaces through conservation, education and public engagement. A charitable organization, it represents 9,500 members, 130,000 supporters and 150 member groups from across Ontario.

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