Ottawa still hopes to reach an agreement with Quebec to protect the woodland caribou rather than adopting a decree that would lead to federal intervention in la belle province.
Federal Environment and Climate Change Minister Steven Guilbeault met Friday with representatives of the Assembly of First Nations of Quebec and Labrador. A meeting where the issue of woodland caribou was mainly discussed, indicated Mr. Guilbeault in an interview with The Press.
The Minister still hopes to reach an agreement with the Aboriginal communities and the Government of Quebec to ensure the protection of the caribou.
Guilbeault says talks with Quebec have improved since Benoit Charette inherited Wildlife and Parks responsibilities, which previously fell to former Forests, Wildlife and Parks Minister Pierre Dufour.
“The tone of the discussions has changed a lot. I have high hopes that we can reach a negotiated agreement with the Aboriginal Nations and the Government of Quebec,” said the federal minister.
Law application
At the beginning of February, Steven Guilbeault had nevertheless written to his provincial counterpart to inform him that he was “now required, in application of the law [la Loi sur les espèces en péril]to recommend to the Governor in Council that a protection order be made for the unprotected portions of the critical habitat of boreal caribou”.
However, Steven Guilbeault affirms in an interview that he has no obligation to recommend a decree to the federal cabinet.
” [Quant à la] letter that I sent to the government of Quebec, which was interpreted by many as a notice that I was going to the cabinet for a request for a decree, this is not the case, ”supports the minister.
“Once federal government experts, biologists come to the conclusion that the habitat is not protected enough, the Species at Risk Act obliges me to go to the cabinet, but does not oblige me to go to the cabinet to ask for a decree, he adds.
“I can go to the office and say, ‘Look, we have an agreement with the Indigenous Nations and the Government of Quebec.’ I can go to the office for that. Personally, my preference has always been to reach a negotiated agreement so that we can cooperate. And it is in this perspective that we are currently working. »
A statement that made Alain Branchaud, general manager of the Society for Nature and Parks in Quebec, react.
“With an analysis confirming that critical caribou habitat is not being effectively protected, the Minister is bound by the Species at Risk Act to recommend a protection order to the Governor in Council. It is written black on white in article 61. Quebec can avoid this scenario of a federal decree by firmly committing to protect the priority habitats identified by its scientists,” maintains Mr. Branchaud.
Remember that the Quebec government is committed to submitting a strategy to protect caribou by next summer.