OTTAWA | The federal government has proof that Quebec is destroying critical caribou habitat and it could be forced to act to force the province to protect this endangered species.
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This is indicated by the Society for Nature and Parks (SNAP), which plans to sue the federal government to push it into action, as it did in the case of the chorus frog in Longueuil.
“It is a serious possibility,” indicates SNAP’s director general, Alain Branchaud, a biologist formerly assigned to the recovery of species at risk at Environment Canada. “Governments need these kicks in the butt to take action,” he said.
His organization has taken Ottawa to court more than once and has never failed. So much so that it now makes the ministry tremble.
Even before a lawsuit was officially launched, the office of the Minister of the Environment, Steven Guilbeault, refused our request for an interview, claiming that the case had been brought to justice.
Minister Gabriel Brunet’s spokesperson stressed that the ministry was “concerned about the situation”.
On the brink of extinction
According to new population inventories released this week, the Gaspé and Charlevoix caribou populations are both on the verge of extinction.
However, these iconic animals of the boreal forest, including the chorus frog and the copper redhorse, appear on the list appended to the Species at Risk Act. Ottawa is therefore legally obliged to protect them.
It is on this basis that the federal government adopted an emergency decree in November to stop the extension of a boulevard in the critical habitat of the tree frog.
It is also on this basis that SNAP got Ottawa in 2018, as part of an amicable agreement, to publish a report on measures to protect the critical habitat of a species. at risk every six months.
“It was a strategic move we made to gather the evidence for an appeal. The government now has documents showing that Quebec is not protecting habitat effectively, ”explains Mr. Branchaud.
For him, the government could adopt an emergency decree to save the caribou, as it did for the tree frog.
While pleading for collaboration between levels of government, Mr. Brunet confirms:
“The Government of Canada has the capacity to impose federal measures for the protection of species at risk […]. If the Minister is of the opinion that protection is necessary under the law, he will make that recommendation. “