Last updated October 2026

COSEWIC considers without prejudice all Wildlife Species as defined by SARA, notwithstanding the extent of their extra-limital range (i.e., the range of the Wildlife Species outside Canada), subject to the following criteria:

A) Taxonomic validity

COSEWIC considers each named taxonomic species in Canada recognised by a contemporary scientific authority (see E4 Guidelines for Naming Wildlife Species) to be a single Wildlife Species. COSEWIC recognizes a unit below the level of a recognized taxonomic species as a Designatable Unit or DU (and, so, as a “Wildlife Species”) if it has attributes that make it both "discrete" and "evolutionarily significant". These criteria need to be met regardless of whether or not the infraspecific unit is named (e.g., as a subspecies or variety) in the literature (refer to Guidelines for Recognizing Designatable Units, Appendix F5).

B) Native Wildlife Species

COSEWIC would normally only consider native Wildlife Species. A native Wildlife Species is a Wildlife Species that occurs in Canada naturally, or that has expanded its range into Canada without direct human intervention from a region where it naturally occurred, has produced viable populations, and has persisted in Canada for at least 50 years.
As stated in the Species at Risk Act, a Wildlife Species is, in the absence of evidence to the contrary, presumed to have been present in Canada for at least 50 years and therefore eligible for assessment.

C) Regularity of occurrence

COSEWIC would normally only consider Wildlife Species which occur or formerly have occurred regularly in Canada, including regular or seasonal migrants but excluding vagrants.

D) Special cases

Notwithstanding the above guidelines, a taxon may be considered eligible if there are clear conservation reasons for consideration (for example high risk of extinction). In particular, a Wildlife Species which does not meet the eligibility criteria but which is at risk in its primary range outside of Canada could be considered for designation.
Reasons for considering a special case must be presented and supporting information must be provided; this should normally be reviewed and agreed to by COSEWIC before a status report is prepared.