HALIFAX — Environmental groups are arguing in Federal Court that Ottawa’s plans for protecting the habitat of the piping plover are vague and inadequate.

The endangered, migratory shorebirds build their nests along coastal beaches where they’re increasingly at risk from human activities and predators.

Lawyers for East Coast Environmental Law and Nature Nova Scotia say the federal approach of protecting specific parts of beaches has unclear language and is weaker than Ottawa’s prior conservation strategy.

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The group says the old strategy held Ottawa to a higher standard of protecting entire beach areas at sites in Atlantic Canada and Quebec.

A spokeswoman for the Environment Department says the new approach was developed using information and input from federal, provincial, territorial and Indigenous governments.

Cecelia Parsons says the protection strategy meets Canada’s obligations under the Species at Risk Act, using refined habitat mapping and “conservation efforts based on the latest science.”

This report by The Canadian Press was first published May 21, 2025.

The Canadian Press