The new study looked at 288 species assessed as at risk since 2017. Only 17 were sent to the Governor in Council within the recommended timeline, while 153 were still overdue as of Jan. 25 2025.

Researchers say the bottleneck comes from a gap in the Species at Risk Act (SARA): the law obliges the environment minister to publish a response within 90 days, but it does not set a statutory deadline for forwarding the COSEWIC assessment to the Governor in Council.

Peter Thompson, a postdoctoral researcher in biology at Simon Fraser University and lead author of the study, explained that the government recommends a one‑to‑two‑year window for moving assessments forward, yet it consistently fails to meet that target. “The government recommended one to two years, and they are consistently failing to meet that,” he said.

The study also found that none of the 15 marine mammals or 49 marine fish evaluated during the period had been forwarded to the Governor in Council by the January 2025 cutoff. Most terrestrial mammals and freshwater fish were still waiting, with 90 % of land mammals and 79 % of freshwater fish overdue.

Critics argue the missing deadline lets governments postpone tough conservation decisions. Lawyer and doctoral researcher Drew Yewchuk said, “It could just sit there forever because there’s no timeline for the step,” adding that the gap relieves pressure to make hard calls about species protection.