Canada must explain polar bear policies to international environmental group

Canada is being forced to explain its polar bear policies to an international environmental watchdog.

An environmental arm of the North American Free Trade Agreement has accepted a petition from a U.S.-based group that says Canada isn’t following its own laws on protecting the bears.

The Center for Biological Diversity says Canada has ignored recent science on climate change and Arctic sea loss in its refusal to declare the mighty predators a threatened species.

The centre points to studies that conclude loss of the bears’ main hunting platform will reduce their numbers by two-thirds by 2050.

It also suggests that Canada’s hunting quotas are unsustainable.

Canada has until Jan. 23 to respond.