Canadians value clean water and a sustainable environment. Environment and Climate Change Canada enforcement officers work to verify that businesses and individuals comply with laws and regulations that protect Canada's natural environment. On March 17, 2023, in the Provincial Court of British Columbia, Keller Foundations Ltd. was ordered to pay a total penalty of $1 million after pleading guilty to one charge laid for violations of subsection 36(3) of the federal Fisheries Act. The charge stemmed from an investigation into the deaths of approximately 85 Cutthroat Trout in Larson Creek in West Vancouver. The fine will be directed to the Government of Canada's Environmental Damages Fund and will support projects that have a positive impact on Canada's natural environment.
Company charged over deaths of dozens of fish in West Vancouver creek
Four years after an incident that killed 76 cutthroat trout in a West Vancouver stream, a contractor that was working for the Ministry of Transportation is facing charges under the Federal Fisheries Act. Keller Foundations Ltd. has been charged with two counts of depositing a deleterious substance in connection to the April 30, 2018, fish deaths. John Barker was president of West Vancouver Streamkeepers at the time, which helps develop and maintain best practices for protecting stream habitat. He said he was shocked to see the dead fish littering the banks of Larson Creek, near Gleneagles Golf Course.