Despite virulent criticism from the Legault government, the federal government is moving forward with its plan to impose an “emergency decree” in order to protect essential habitat to avoid the disappearance of three of Quebec’s thirteen populations of woodland caribou.
“The caribou is an emblematic animal of Canada. We relied on a collaborative approach, waited for the submission of a complete strategy from Quebec and it was postponed numerous times. In the absence of a strategy in place, and faced with the imminent threat weighing on these populations, we have a responsibility to act to ensure the recovery and sustainability of the caribou,” argued Canadian Minister of the Environment Steven Guilbeault, Wednesday, by making public the Trudeau government’s decision.
Concretely, Ottawa does not immediately impose protective measures. Instead, it is launching a 60-day consultation that will involve the Quebec government, indigenous communities, interested citizens and affected industries. The decree will subsequently be finalized and will specify the areas which must be protected to avoid the disappearance of three herds, out of the 13 in Quebec: those of Val-d’Or and Charlevoix, which now live in captivity, and that of Pipmuacan, which remains to the northeast of Lac-Saint-Jean.
“The imminent threats to recovery are due to the increase in the extent of disturbance linked to multiple threats, including the impacts of logging for industrial activities and the expansion of the multi-use road network,” specifies the document released Wednesday by Environment and Climate Change Canada (ECCC). “The executive order will prohibit activities that contribute to these imminent threats. »
The ministry adds that if the Quebec government put in place “concrete protection measures” which would make it possible to rule out the measure of disappearance, the decree could be withdrawn.
No strategy
For the moment, the CAQ government has not implemented a provincial strategy for the protection of the caribou, nor does there exist a concrete plan to avoid the disappearance of the three herds targeted by the federal draft decree, insisted ECCC on Wednesday, recalling that the species has been classified “threatened” since 2003.
Instead, the Legault government announced last April a “consultation” on measures intended to better protect 3 of the 13 populations living in the territory, namely those of Charlevoix, that of Gaspésie and another living on the North Shore. And Quebec leaves the door open to the pursuit of industrial activities, including logging and mining exploration, in habitats suitable for the last caribou. This is the case in Gaspésie, where there are barely 25 animals, more than half of which are today in captivity.
ECCC, however, recalled on Wednesday that Quebec “plays a major role in the recovery of the species” since approximately 15% of all forest caribou in Canada are found in the province. Last year, the total population of the province was estimated at between 6,162 and 7,445 animals.
But according to a recent international scientific study, industrial logging carried out over tens of thousands of square kilometers has seriously disrupted the habitats necessary for the survival of the species. Result: 11 of the 13 populations in the province are today at “risk” of extinction.
Job losses
The leaders of nine Innu communities therefore recently urged the federal government to act to “bring the government of Quebec to order” and prevent the disappearance of caribou from their territories.
They often cite as an example the case of the Pimuacan caribou, whose habitat has been severely degraded by the forestry industry. The herd numbered barely 225 animals, at best, during the most recent inventory, carried out in 2020 over a territory of more than 28,000 km2. “The population is in an extremely precarious state and its capacity for self-sufficiency is unlikely under current conditions,” the government experts concluded.
On Wednesday, the Legault government for its part warned of the job losses which it believed would result from the federal decree. “We are threatening a decree without knowing what the impacts would be on local populations, without having evaluated the social impacts,” thundered Quebec Minister of the Environment, Benoit Charette, on Wednesday, at the start of a session of the Council of Ministers. “We cannot describe the federal approach as anything other than irresponsible,” he added.
A document from the Ministry of Natural Resources and Forests indicates that more than 2,400 workers would lose their jobs if the federal government applied its decree in Charlevoix, Pipmuacan and Val-d’Or. Quebec estimates the associated financial losses at $183 million per year. The analysis in question even goes so far as to say that the application of federal decrees to the entire territory occupied by forest and mountain caribou would generate 30,000 “direct or indirect” job losses.
Minister Steven Guilbeault responded by affirming that “it is very, very, very premature to put forward figures” on possible job losses. “We haven’t even started the consultation process yet. So it’s an exaggeration to throw numbers in the air like that. I don’t have any figures. Let’s do the consultation and, then, we can define what the socio-economic impacts could be and how we address these impacts,” he explained.
From 2022, several Quebec scientists have proposed to the CAQ government to use financial tools that have already proven their worth in order to protect the province’s mature forests. They notably mentioned the idea of using “carbon credits” on public lands covered with forests. As companies must purchase greenhouse gas emission rights to comply with provincial regulations, they could do so here.
What’s more, they proposed using funds dedicated to the fight against climate change to encourage the development of new practices in the forestry industry, which has charted several paths over the decades. “There are 500,000 kilometers of forest roads in Quebec, which are used as highways for caribou predators. We could close several of these roads and reforest them,” Minister Guilbeault underlined on Wednesday.