The Legault government refused to participate in a federal scientific report which takes stock of efforts made across Canada to protect the woodland caribou, citing the absence of an agreement on the recovery of the species between the two levels. of governments. The report published Friday emphasizes the urgency of a protection strategy in Quebec.
The report made public by Environment and Climate Change Canada (ECCC) takes stock of “progress in the implementation of the recovery strategy” developed in accordance with the obligations of the Species at Risk Act, but also on the “plan “action” necessary to better protect the caribou’s forest habitat. It addresses the situation in seven provinces and two territories.
According to what we can read in this document, “the government of Quebec declined ECCC’s requests to contribute to this report and to revise the draft report.” The CAQ government provided “no data” on the province’s caribou populations as part of the preparation of the report.
It is explained that the refusal of the CAQ government of François Legault would be linked to the absence of an agreement on the recovery of the species between the two levels of government. A first collaboration agreement was signed in August 2018 between Quebec and Ottawa, then another in September 2019 on the issue of financing the protection of woodland caribou. “The government of Canada and the government of Quebec have begun to negotiate a new agreement on the recovery of the boreal caribou in 2022, but these negotiations are currently on hold,” specifies the 165-page report.
“ECCC remains hopeful that a new collaboration agreement between Canada and Quebec, which will establish ambitious commitments for the protection and recovery of boreal caribou in which First Nations will participate, can be concluded as soon as a strategy for the caribou based on science and including short, medium and long term measures that support the recovery of the species will be available,” details the report.
Urgent strategy
Meanwhile, the situation of the species in Quebec continued to deteriorate and the provincial strategy to save the species, promised a few times and constantly postponed since 2019, has still not been tabled by the Legault government.
Federal Minister of the Environment Steven Guilbeault had also recommended in the spring of 2023 the issuance of a federal decree to impose the protection of the critical habitat of the caribou, but the Trudeau government refused to go ahead. Before. The ECCC report recalls that Ottawa “instead chose to seek a collaborative approach with the government of Quebec.”
The ministry underlines at the same time that “it is urgent to put in place a global caribou strategy in order to establish approaches at the landscape scale to manage habitat in a way that promotes the self-sufficiency of local populations.” , particularly in ranges where habitat disturbance is significant.” Currently, the destruction of necessary habitats for deer caused by the logging industry is pushing 11 of 13 populations towards extinction, according to the results of a recent scientific study.
ECCC adds that “it is necessary to establish long-term plans for the conservation and recovery of local populations in Val-d’Or and Charlevoix that go beyond the permanent use of enclosures or other predator control measures.” These two herds were placed in captivity in order to avoid their complete disappearance, but the federal government considers that it is important to implement measures to restore their habitats.
However, a recognized expert in the species recently explained to Duty that Quebec has been so slow to act to protect the declining populations of woodland caribou that some of them are today condemned, at best, to “decades of captivity”, and this, only if the government finally implements ambitious measures to restore their forest habitats.
Instead of the provincial strategy promised for five years, the Legault government announced last week “consultations” on the addition of protection measures for a population of caribou on the North Shore, but also for those in Charlevoix and those of Gaspésie. Quebec also leaves the door open to the pursuit of industrial activities in habitats suitable for caribou.
The leaders of nine Innu communities are therefore urging the federal government to act to “bring the government of Quebec to order” and prevent the disappearance of caribou from their territories. Same story with the Assembly of First Nations Quebec-Labrador, which is demanding intervention from Ottawa in the name of respecting their “rights and interests”, due to the cultural and historical importance of the caribou.