Mitigation banking is a well-known concept in the US. Under the Clean Water Act, proponents or mitigation bankers restore, enhance or preserve wetlands, streams or lakes in anticipation of future impacts to facilitate the environmental permitting process. In Canada, this concept is still relatively new. In Canada, the relevant legislation is the federal Fisheries Act, which is administered by the Department of Fisheries and Oceans (DFO), and which requires an authorization to impact fish or fish habitat. Amendments were made to the Fisheries Act in 2019 to enabled fish habitat banks; however, to date, only a few have been successfully established. DFO’s justification for allowing habitat banking in Canada was for the potential utility of banks in linear developments (e.g., pipelines, railways, or roads), which may have many small impacts along the length of their projects. Over the next few years, the Canadian National (CN) Railway will undertake several projects which will impact fish habitat within the watershed of the North Saskatchewan River.