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A river conservation group in New Brunswick says it’s considering legal action to force the federal minister of fisheries to order the opening of a causeway on the Petitcodiac River.
The Petitcodiac branch of the international Riverkeeper organization says Loyola Hearn has a duty under the federal Fisheries Act to communicate with the province and tell it that the structure harms marine life.
If nothing happens in 45 days, the group says it will prepare a court case.
Petitcodiac Riverkeeper chairman Michel Desjardins says the issue has been stagnating since an Environmental Impact Assessment on cleanup options was completed 18 months ago.
He says the group wants ‘formal communication’ from the minister to the province indicating that New Brunswick is in violation of the federal Fisheries Act by keeping the causeway.
Otherwise, the group will go for a court order through the Court of Queen Bench in Moncton that compels federal action.
‘The minister has the power and the responsibility to enforce that Act and that is why we are addressing him,’ said Desjardins.
‘We also know that in the 18 months since the EIA was completed we have seen exactly one action from the province: the transfer of the file from the provincial Department of the Environment to the Department of Supply and Services.’
Supply and Services Minister Roly MacIntyre said Thursday that Riverkeeper is wrong if it suggests the province has done nothing but sit on the file for 18 months.