Good morning, Mr. Chair and committee members.
My name is Hannah Rogers, and I've been the director general of the environmental enforcement directorate at Environment and Climate Change Canada for approximately five years.
Thank you for the opportunity to appear before the committee to discuss the Fisheries Act and Environment and Climate Change Canada's role in its enforcement.
I would like to begin by acknowledging that I am speaking to you from the traditional territory of the Algonquin Anishinabe nation. I am reminded every day that our work to protect fisheries and water resources supports our shared responsibility to be good stewards of the land—an important value long upheld by indigenous peoples.
Let me start by outlining ECCC's role in enforcing the Fisheries Act.
Our department is responsible for administering and enforcing the pollution prevention provisions of the act. These provisions prohibit the release of substances into water that are deleterious to fish unless expressly authorized by regulation. This is one of Canada's most important legislative tools for safeguarding fisheries resources and protecting our waters from pollution. Its requirements apply broadly to all Canadian fisheries waters.
ECCC created a separate branch, our enforcement branch, in 2005, following a standing committee report calling for an independent and centralized enforcement agency to ensure the independence of enforcement.
Our mandate is both broad and complex. We operate in every province and territory, with about 266 trained officers who enforce the laws and regulations across a wide range of industrial and other activities. This includes the enforcement of several regulations made under the Fisheries Act that authorize the release of deleterious substances but under strict and highly controlled conditions. To date, seven such regulations have been developed, including those for the metal and diamond mining sector, the pulp and paper sector, and municipal waste-water systems.
Our enforcement officers conduct inspections to verify compliance with the Fisheries Act in accordance with the publicly available compliance and enforcement policy for the habitat protection and pollution prevention provisions of the Fisheries Act. This policy establishes the principles of fair, predictable and consistent enforcement, and outlines the full suite of available enforcement responses. It applies nationally to all officials exercising regulatory authority.
If officers have reasonable grounds to believe there has been an alleged violation, they may take a range of actions, including warnings, directions and prosecutions, to bring parties into compliance on a case-by-case basis. Of course, ECCC enforcement officers cannot be everywhere at once. For this reason, our organization uses a risk-based approach to determine where to focus our enforcement efforts. This ensures that resources are directed to sectors and activities with the highest risk of non-compliance and the greatest potential to harm the environment or human health. It also supports departmental priorities, such as incident responses and referrals.
In the 2024-25 fiscal year, under the Fisheries Act, ECCC enforcement conducted 2,458 inspections, which led to 18 new investigations. An additional 47 investigations were carried over from previous years due to their complexity and scope. Officers issued 160 warning letters and 63 directions, and four files were recommended for prosecution during this period.
There were 10 convictions under the Fisheries Act, resulting in approximately $14 million in penalties and fines. Of this amount, $13,930,000—almost all of it—was directed to the environmental damages fund, which supports projects that benefit ecosystems and communities across Canada.
ECCC takes environmental protection very seriously and will act against polluters when appropriate. Our officers are resourceful and use all tools available to address non-compliance.
Over time, enforcement officers have noted various challenges that impact the effective enforcement of the Fisheries Act. We are modernizing our approach by equipping officers with new technologies, such as satellite imagery, drones and remote sensing. In addition, we are examining whether administrative monetary penalties—recommended by stakeholders and by the 2019 commissioner of the environment and sustainable development's report entitled “Protecting fish From Mining Effluent”—could enhance our ability to address low- and medium-severity violations and increase overall efficiency.
Thank you, Mr. Chair and members of the committee. I would be pleased to answer any questions today.