After London workers cut down a monarch butterfly habitat without the homeowner’s permission, an environmental lawyer says Ontario cities must re-examine policies addressing complaints over butterfly-friendly wild flowers.
Susan McKee returned from vacation in July only to discover her pollinator garden, once bustling with monarch butterflies and bees, was mowed down by city workers while she was away. She said the garden was used by neighbours as a source of eggs to help colonize nearby gardens with the embattled insect.
McKee got three tickets totalling $300 in cleanup, inspection and administration fees because city workers had to deal with “tall weeds and grass” on her property.
In doing so, workers removed more than a dozen varieties of plants, including milkweed — a plant considered a vital habitat for monarch butterflies, a once pervasive insect that was declared endangered just weeks ago by an international consortium of science and conservation groups.
Whether city workers violated the Species at Risk Act when they destroyed monarch butterfly habitat would be a question for a court to decide, said Theresa McClenaghan, executive director and counsel for the Canadian Environmental Law Association (CELA).
Monarch subject to federal management plan
“It would be a question of whether the city’s action was contravening a restoration plan that had been approved under the Species at Risk Act,” McClenaghan said.
The monarch butterfly is subject to a federal management plan that has existed since 2016. It encourages “the creation of butterfly gardens using milkweed species native to the area” and “conserving milkweeds and other nectar-producing garden plants in home and school gardens.”
Children such as this eight-year-old use London, Ont., resident Susan McKee’s garden as a source of eggs to help colonize nearby gardens with the monarch. McKee’s garden, once bustling with monarchs and bees, was mowed down by city workers while she was away. (Michelle Both/CBC)
But according to the City of London, it didn’t do anything wrong. Spokesperson Jo Ann Johnston wrote in an email to CBC News that federal protections for endangered species only apply to “federal lands” and “the actions taken were on private and city property.”
“We know the importance of pollinator gardens and providing habitats for species that are at risk, and we recognize how critical they are not only for the species, but for all of us,” she wrote.
The actions taken were limited to this property and were as a result of complaints related to the yard and lot maintenance bylaw.– Jo Ann Johnston, City of London
“The city actively includes pollinator habitat and monarch habitat in buffer restoration and other naturalization projects. In this instance, the actions taken were limited to this property and were as a result of complaints related to the yard and lot maintenance bylaw.”
McClenaghan, however, said “there should be a rethink” of the way Ontario municipalities deal with complaints about vegetation neighbours might find loathsome or unsightly, especially when it comes to milkweed in pollinator gardens.
McClenaghan said a June 2001 Supreme Court decision ruled local communities have a legal responsibility to look after nature when it upheld the Quebec town of Hudson’s ban on cosmetic pesticide use after it was challenged by a pest control company.
“The Supreme Court of Canada said municipalities are ‘trustees of the environment,’ they’re part of the solution.”
It’s quite ironic then when a municipality goes out and chops down milkweed.– Theresa McClenaghan
“Loss of habitat is highly connected to climate change,” McClenaghan said, noting the insect has become a potent emblem of a continent-wide push for better environmental stewardship.
Monarch butterflies are “the symbol of Canada, the U.S. and Mexico’s environmental co-operation agreement, so it’s quite ironic then when a municipality goes out and chops down milkweed,” she said. “It’s very dated thinking.”
Monarchs will only lay their eggs on milkweed
Milkweed may no longer be considered a noxious weed by the Ontario government, but it still isn’t seen as a good thing by the province’s Ministry of Agriculture Farming and Rural Affairs, which notes “milkweed species are generally thought to be poisonous to livestock.”
‘Monarch butterfly females will only lay their eggs on different species of milkweed,’ says Jeremy McNeil, a professor of biology at Western University who studies insects. (Mary Garshore/Nature Conservancy of Canada)
“Monarch butterfly females will only lay their eggs on different species of milkweed,” said Jeremy McNeil, a Western University professor of biology who studies insects.
“Once the eggs hatch, the caterpillars will feed on those. You can put them on another plant and they will not feed. They’re specialists.”
McNeil said monarchs have learned to digest and store the same toxic milkweed compounds in their bodies that make the plants poisonous to livestock, so the butterflies are unpalatable to predators.
McNeil said years of education on milkweed has slowly reshaped our understanding of the plant as a vital source of food for the insect.
“We have to ensure that milkweed is here in the summer months when they are breeding, that is for sure. But it’s not the only thing that’s affecting them over the years.”
McNeil said monarch butterflies embark on an incredible journey each spring, leaving their overwintering grounds in the Mexican mountains and flying north thousands of kilometres to their breeding grounds in Canada.
Opening more land to agriculture, pesticide use and changes to weather patterns brought on by climate change have made the voyage all the more perilous because they affect the numbers of plants the insects can feed on.
WATCH | Experts speak on what’s contributed to the decline of monarch butterflies:
Monarch butterflies added to endangered species list
12 days ago
Duration 2:11
The International Union for the Conservation of Nature has added the migratory monarch butterfly to its list of endangered species.
“If you’re driving and you can’t find a gas station, what’s going to happen?” McNeil said.
“For whatever climatic reason, if there are way fewer flowers in a given year, then guess what? There’s going to be less fuel available, they might die and if they don’t die, they’re going to have a reduced fecundity.”
McNeil said this year’s drought has had a significant effect on butterfy numbers. In his field work, he visited 99 milkweed plants and found only one larva.
“It really was the most abundant butterfly you would see around,” he said. “The number this year was extremely low.”
REGINA – A woman told a jury Tuesday that a Regina chiropractor reached into her bra and grabbed her breast without her consent during an appointment.
The 47-year-old woman, who cannot be identified due to a publication ban, testified she went to see chiropractor Ruben Manz in 2011 to treat pain in her neck, shoulders, lower back and hips.
Manz is accused of sexually assaulting seven women over 10 years while they were under his care.
The complainant said she was sitting on an exam table when Manz placed a hand on her shoulder, pulled her head to one side and put a hand in her shirt.
He asked if she was OK, she said, and she replied yes but was hesitant.
She told the trial that Manz then moved his hand into her bra and pulled her breast.
“He said, ‘Just relax. It’s part of the treatment,’ And I said, ‘The hell it is,’” the woman testified.
“I got up, grabbed my stuff and left the room.”
The woman told the jury what happened to her was wrong and no other chiropractor had touched her that way.
She stopped seeing Manz immediately, she said.
“I didn’t trust him. He violated me.”
The woman said she reported Manz to a chiropractors’ association the next day. In 2021, after reading a news report about criminal charges against Manz, she went to police.
“He did this to somebody else, so I was mad,” she said.
She said she regularly seeks treatment for muscle strain and adjustments to her shoulders, hips and spine.
“I have to work very hard to find the strength to trust people to put their hands on me,” she added.
Defence lawyer Kathy Hodgson-Smith questioned the complainant about what she remembered, including how many appointments she had with Manz, the clothes she was wearing and how many people she told about her allegation.
The woman said she couldn’t remember exactly how many times she saw Manz. She recalled wearing a supportive bra meant to prevent pressure to her chest.
She said she’s been open about sharing what happened with others if the topic of bad experiences comes up.
“I remember that one incident with him like it was yesterday,” the woman testified.
“I remembered it this whole time — not because it came up in a news report or because I talked about it.
“Because it wasn’t OK. And I haven’t had a chiropractor before then or since then do that to me.”
This report by The Canadian Press was first published Nov. 5, 2024.
Tim Houston, who is seeking a second term as Nova Scotia premier, said he had no plans to invite Poilievre to join him on the campaign ahead of the Nov. 26 provincial election. He explained the provincial Progressive Conservatives have no formal ties with the Tories in Ottawa — and he made a point of saying he is not a member of the federal party. Experts say it also is because the latest polls suggest Atlantic Canadians have not warmed to Poilievre. (Nov. 5, 2024)
CLEMSON, S.C. (AP) — It has been a rough few days for Clemson coach Dabo Swinney. First, his 19th-ranked Tigers lost to Louisville on Saturday night, then he was told he couldn’t vote Tuesday at his polling place.
Swinney, whose given name is William, explained that the voting system had locked him out, saying a “William Swinney” had already voted last week. Swinney said it was his oldest son, Will, and not him.
“They done voted me out of the state,” Swinney said. “We’re 6-2 and 5-1 (in the Atlantic Coast Conference), man. They done shipped me off.”
Dabo Swinney had to complete a paper ballot and was told there will be a hearing on Friday to resolve the issue.
“I was trying to do my best and be a good citizen and go vote,” he said. “Sometimes doing your best ain’t good enough. You have to keep going though, keep figuring it out.”
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