Dream Billiards Sports Bar and Eatery Inc. fined $25,000 for illegally importing items made from protected wood species

BRAMPTON, ON, July 13, 2026 /CNW/ -- Illegal timber trade is a major global issue, valued at tens of billions of dollars each year with illicit wood products moving through international supply chains and across borders. By ensuring compliance with environmental legislation, enforcement officers help ensure that laws are respected, reducing harm to species and their habitats while supporting healthy ecosystems that Canadians rely on.

On July 7, 2026, at the Ontario Court of Justice in Brampton, Ontario, Dream Billiards Sports Bar and Eatery Inc. was fined $25,000 after pleading guilty to one offence under subsection 6(2) of the Wild Animal and Plant Protection and Regulation of International and Interprovincial Trade Act (WAPPRIITA). This conviction relates to importing items made from rosewood, a protected exotic wood, without a permit. The Act requires permits when importing CITES-listed plants. The fine will be directed to the Government of Canada's Environmental Damages Fund.

In February 2025, Environment and Climate Change Canada enforcement officers inspected a shipment of billiard table legs from India that was intercepted by the Canada Border Services Agency in Mississauga, Ontario. The shipment was on its way to the company in Barrie, Ontario. While inspecting the shipment, officers discovered 119 billiard table legs made from exotic wood. Laboratory analysis revealed that the items were made from rosewood (Dalbergia), an exotic species listed in Appendix II of the Convention on International Trade in Endangered Species of Wild Fauna and Flora (CITES). Appendix II species require an export permit from the exporting country for import into Canada. As Dream Billiards Sports Bar and Eatery Inc. did not have the legally required permit, enforcement officers detained the shipment. All the rosewood table legs have since been forfeited to the Crown.

Environment and Climate Change Canada enforcement officers verify that shipments of wood products made from CITES-listed species have the required permits, helping ensure that trade is controlled, legal, and sustainable. These measures help protect species at risk of overexploitation and support global conservation efforts.

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Quick facts

• CITES is an international agreement that Canada signed in 1975 to regulate, or in some cases prohibit, trade in specific species of wild animals and plants, as well as their respective parts and derivatives.
• CITES Appendix II lists species that are not currently threatened with extinction, but that may become so unless trade is closely controlled.
• CITES protects wild plants or animals by setting controls on international trade so that trade will not threaten the survival of the species. Permits are required for the import or export of specimens of CITES-protected species. This protection applies to the CITES-listed species in any form.
• The WAPPRIITA is the Canadian federal law through which Canada meets its obligations to regulate trade in protected species, including those listed under CITES.
• Created in 1995, the Environmental Damages Fund is a Government of Canada program administered by Environment and Climate Change Canada. The Fund directs monies received from fines, penalties, court orders, and voluntary payments to projects that will repair environmental damage or benefit the environment. The Fund aims to invest in areas where the environmental damage caused by the violation has occurred.

Associated links

• Convention on International Trade in Endangered Species of Wild Fauna and Flora
• Wild Animal and Plant Protection and Regulation of International and Interprovincial Trade Act
• Wildlife Enforcement Inspections
• Environmental Damages Fund
• Report Pollution Incidents or Wildlife Crimes

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SOURCE Environment and Climate Change Canada

Contacts: Media Relations, Environment and Climate Change Canada, 819-938-3338 or 1-844-836-7799 (toll-free), [email protected]