About twenty years later The Boreal Error by Richard Desjardins, the documentary Defend our forests, which is available this Friday on the Vrai platform, shows the state of Quebec forestry and the exploitation of the primary resource in 2021.
Co-directors Ninon Pednault and Marie-Christine Noël, from our investigation office, traveled more than 5,000 km across Quebec “to see what was happening on the ground”.
Through the eyes of different actors who work in the community, both biologists, activists and workers who have been in the woods for generations, the document narrated by singer Émile Bilodeau shows a fragment of Quebec forest management, sometimes well done and sometimes questionable.
Photo QMI Agency, Joël Lemay
“The management of the territory and natural resources, since The Boreal Error, there is a long way to go. We are no longer cutting as much or as before, there have also been efforts and restructuring, ”underlined Ninon Pednault, who was keen to go and see in the field and reflect on the future of management. resource. This is also the starting point for NumériQ’s shock documentary, she said in an interview with the QMI Agency.
Striking images: the caribou, the forest canary
We present two sides of the coin of the forest industry, the effect that cutting and rejuvenation of forests, 91.6% public, has on biodiversity. This is particularly the case for the woodland caribou, of which only seven individuals remain in Val-d’Or. Quebec’s emblematic animal is set to become extinct within just a few years.
For Marie-Christine Noël, facing the enclosure where the last seven caribou of Val-d’Or are kept in captivity, safe from predators, was a highlight in the making of the documentary, which took place. effect of a “wake up call”.
Photo QMI Agency, Joël Lemay
“Scientists we have spoken to have told us [que les individus] were aging. Are they going to be able to reproduce? It could be extremely difficult and the chances of these caribou disappearing are greater and greater. [Avec l’enclos à caribous] we see the damage we have done and we acted too late, ”said the co-director.
Yet the alarm bells had been ringing for a long time, but nothing was done, she added.
The current management of forests is still detrimental to the survival of caribou, in particular because it benefits its predators, the black bear and the wolf, but also because it reduces certain bases of their diet, which is found in dead trees. .
Recently, the Department of Wildlife announced the construction of another caribou enclosure valued at just over $ 2 million to protect the pregnant females of the Gaspé caribou herd.
“These are wild herds that will also be put in enclosures. We hope it will be temporary, but there is a good chance that it will be permanent, ”said Marie-Christine Noël.
The resonant absence of the minister
If the Ministry of Forests, Wildlife and Parks (MFFP) was reactive to the documentary, Minister Pierre Dufour for his part was conspicuous by his absence, despite numerous interview requests.
“Making a documentary on the forest without the Minister of Forests is very disappointing,” Marie-Christine Noël did not hide.
“The MFFP responded to us within a reasonable time, even when we asked questions we then saw that it made things happen, is it just a coincidence? We don’t know, ”added Mme Pednault.
Note that Minister Dufour has agreed to meet the co-directors of the documentary once he has seen it.