Chevron Canada was granted a permit to drill for natural gas in the Kendall Island Bird Sanctuary by mistake, an Environment Canada official says.

The permit was issued in mid-September while Environment Canada was conducting its assessment of the project, said Bill Gummer, who is in charge of the sanctuary for the government.

More than 90 species of birds spend the summer at Kendall Island.
(CBC News)

Located about 120 kilometres north of Inuvik, the sanctuary is home to more than 90 species of geese, swans and shorebirds. It also has two natural gas fields and holds the potential for more discoveries.

Gummer said the early granting of the permit is a "unique error" on the government's part.

"It was a human error and we're in the process of trying to find out why it happened," Gummer said. "We'll take the necessary steps to ensure it doesn't happen in the future."

Although Chevron has the permit, it has not started working in the area yet, Gummer said.

Environment Canada will reissue the permit once the environmental assessment is completed within the next month, he said.

Environmental groups such as the World Wildlife Fund and Nature Canada are worried the government is under pressure from industry to allow work to proceed.

"It's their responsibility to safeguard the site, so we want to make sure that they remember that and they really take seriously their responsibility when it comes to Kendall Island," said Sarah Wren of Nature Canada.

They will get an opportunity to quiz Environment Canada about its protection of the sanctuary at the Joint Review Panel hearings for the Mackenzie gas project in Inuvik next week.