[2] More than 30 wildlife species have become extinct in the wild since the arrival of European settlers.
[3] The Government of Canada maintains a list of all plant and animal species, or designatable units (DUs) thereof, federally recognized as special concern, threatened, endangered, extirpated, and extinct in Canada under Schedule I of the Species at Risk Act (SARA).
Listing on Schedule I of the act also mandates the formation of a species recovery team and strategy.
The addition of species or DUs to Schedule I is done annually by the Minister of the Environment, based on formal assessment recommendations by the Committee on the Status of Endangered Wildlife in Canada (COSEWIC), an independent committee of wildlife experts and scientists.
COSEWIC assessments and IUCN designations by themselves are not to be confused with actual Schedule I listings as both of the former have no formal legal status in Canada.