The analysis by Quebec’s Chief Forester on the impact that the federal decree protecting caribou would have on the forestry industry sheds some light “on a fear campaign,” according to Environment Minister Steven Guilbeault.
Across Quebec, the federal decree on caribou would cause a 4.1% drop in forest potential, which is equivalent to 1.4 million cubic metres of wood per year, according to the analysis published Tuesday by Quebec’s chief forester, Louis Pelletier.
“His analysis brings a bit of realism to this debate, in what has until now been a certain fear campaign on the part of the Quebec government and certain industry players,” Minister Guilbeault said Wednesday morning, on the sidelines of a press conference in Montreal.
“When I announced that the federal government was moving forward with a decree for the protection of caribou, the Quebec government said that 14 million cubic metres are at risk. And now, the Chief Forester tells us that it is 1.4 million cubic metres, the difference is significant,” said Minister Guilbeault.
Quebec had indeed mentioned, last June, a reduction in the forestry potential of 14 million cubic metres if the decree applied to the entire caribou distribution area, but Ottawa has never, until now, expressed this intention.
The federal government instead plans to impose a decree on Quebec to force the province to protect caribou in three distribution areas: Val-d’Or, Charlevoix and Pipmuacan.
Consultations will take place until August 18 to clarify the scope of the decree that Ottawa wishes to impose on Quebec.
This is not “the world of Avatar”
Forestry companies that cut down trees in caribou habitat in the Pipmuacan area, which straddles the Côte-Nord and Saguenay-Lac-Saint-Jean regions, would be those that would suffer the greatest impact if the decree comes into force.
According to the Chief Forester’s analysis, the forestry potential would decrease by 790,400 cubic metres of wood per year in this area, which represents nearly 57% of the impact of the draft decree.
For several years, the Innu of the region have been demanding concrete measures to prevent the forestry industry from decimating the region’s caribou herd.
In a letter sent to Prime Minister Justin Trudeau on Tuesday, the leaders of the Boisaco forestry cooperative, Steeve St-Gelais and Andrée Gilbert, wrote that the implementation of the decree would represent a drop in the organization’s supplies of around 60%.
“Here in Haute-Côte-Nord, we do not live in the world of Avatar, Mr. Premier. For us, the development of wood and the forest is a way of life, and has been for many generations. It is part of our DNA. For us, work is a right,” assert the leaders of the forestry cooperative.
Asked to respond to Boisaco’s grievances, Minister Guilbeault responded that it was Quebec’s role to put in place a strategy for the protection of caribou and also a strategy on forest management.
“For example, in the case of Boisaco, it should not alone suffer the impacts of caribou conservation. Why is the Quebec government not working to ensure that if there are impacts, it is fair for all businesses?” said the minister.
Biologist Serge Couturier, a caribou specialist who worked for 27 years at the Quebec Ministry of Natural Resources and Wildlife, seems to share Minister Guilbeault’s opinion on the subject.
“Why talk about an economic catastrophe when we can probably go get the wood elsewhere or simply stop harvesting it in caribou habitat? I’m not saying that it will be easy for all companies, but the government will then have to do its job of supporting an economic transition,” the biologist told The Canadian Press.
In an email exchange, the office of the Minister of Natural Resources and Forests, Maïté Blanchette Vézina, indicated that it “takes note of the analysis of the chief forester” and does not intend to “comment at this point.”