Péribonka Protected Area Project | Opposition came from elected municipal officials

The elected municipal officials of Saguenay–Lac-Saint-Jean have indeed put pressure on Quebec to dismiss the project’s creators from the committee responsible for setting up the protected area of ​​the Péribonka River.

Jean-Thomas Léveillé
The Press

The Regional Conference of Prefects of Regional County Municipalities (MRC) of Lac-Saint-Jean has threatened Quebec not to participate in this committee if the Péribonka River Safeguard Committee, which has been carrying out the protected area project since 2010, also sat there.

This was one of the “three conditions” demanded by regional elected officials in return for their participation in the committee, the prefects of the five MRCs in the region indicated in a letter to the Minister of the Environment and the Fight against climate change, Benoit Charette.

Their missive, dated May 31, 2022 and that The Press obtained, literally demanded “that pressure bodies such as the Péribonka safeguard committee not be part of this committee”, responsible for finalizing the project.

However, the Regional Conference of Prefects had categorically affirmed in September that it had not asked for the specific exclusion of the creators of the protected area project, when The Press had reported their dismissal¹.

“We did not explicitly ask that the Safeguard Committee [de la rivière Péribonka] is not present”, had then declared its general manager, Aldé Gauthier, specifying to have “said without naming anyone [vouloir] a neutral committee.

He had even added: “If we said that, I would like to see the writing. »

An “omission”

The director general of the Regional Conference of Prefects admitted on Tuesday that he “drafted the letter” in question, but maintained that he did not remember having called for the exclusion of the Péribonka River Safeguard Committee when he answered questions from The Press.

“It’s really an oversight on my part,” said Aldé Gauthier, saying he remembered it later, but did not “seem fit” to recall. The Press to correct the shot.

The elected officials’ request to exclude “pressure bodies” from the committee forced them to accept that the Alliance Forêt boréale, a paramunicipal organization that defends “the interests of forest communities” and opposes the Péribonka River protected area project.

“We came to the conclusion that we had to be consistent,” indicated Mr. Gauthier.

Same offices

However, the Boreal Forest Alliance shares its offices and staff with the Regional Conference of Wardens and its board of directors is made up of the wardens of the MRCs in the region.

What distinguishes the two organizations?

“The Boreal Forest Alliance only manages forestry issues, [tandis que] the Regional Conference of Prefects manages more than the forestry issue,” argued Mr. Gauthier.

The MRCs prefer to have “regional organizations” at the discussion table, rather than the creators of the protected area project, which they consider to be a local organization, explained the prefect of the MRC of Lac-Saint-Jean-Est. , Louis Ouellet.

The elected officials sitting on the committee will also represent the interests of the MRCs and not those of the Alliance Forêt boréale, even if they are members of both organizations, assured Yannick Baillargeon, prefect of the MRC du Domaine-du- Roy.

Proximity denounced

The Péribonka River Safeguard Committee suspected that elected municipal officials had removed it from the committee set up by Quebec.

“It does not surprise me at all, it looks like them to want to exclude citizens,” reacted its spokesperson, Ève Tremblay.

M^me Tremblay is especially offended to see these elected officials sit on the committee “with two or three hats on their heads”, underlining the close ties between the Regional Conference of Prefects and the Alliance Forêt boréale.

“They present themselves as two separate organizations, but two organizations made up of the same people, it can’t be different,” she said.

The resident of Lamarche, a municipality that will be the gateway to the future 237 km protected area^⁠2is worried to see the realization of the project entrusted to people who oppose it.

“We all know that they will defend the vision of Alliance Forêt boréale, which openly and publicly opposed the Péribonka protected area project,” she said.

In its other “conditions” presented to Minister Charette, the Regional Conference of Prefects required in particular to be able to discuss the “choice of category” of protected area and the “permitted uses”.