Clarification: in Canada, this species of bumblebee was officially added to the list of endangered species under the Species at Risk Act in 2012. Pursuant to that law, the federal government must publish a recovery strategy within one year of the date the species is listed. The previous government routinely violated the law despite several court decisions that were highly critical of its slow approach to fulfilling its legal obligations to species at risk. The required recovery strategy was published by the Liberal government in 2016.