Protection of woodland caribou | Quebec agrees to do more

Quebec gives in to pressure from Ottawa and agrees to do more to save the caribou, a species threatened with extinction.

Jean-Thomas Léveillé
The Press

The two governments announced Monday “progress” in their discussions on the subject, saying they were hopeful “to reach an agreement aimed at the maintenance, protection and recovery of woodland caribou on Quebec territory”, indicates a joint press release, which however does not include any concrete announcement.

The Quebec government “wishes to take significant additional measures” with the aim of “moving towards the long-term self-sufficiency of all caribou populations”, states the text.

These measures will make it possible to reduce to 35% the rate of disturbance of the habitat of the woodland and mountain caribou “in each of their ranges”.

This threshold is the minimum required for a herd to have a 60% chance of surviving, according to scientific consensus.

Quebec intends to achieve this by using various “territorial protection” tools, such as the designation of legal wildlife habitats, biological refuges and the dismantling of forest roads.

The protection of “large massifs of intact habitats is essential for the maintenance of populations” of caribou, however reiterated last fall the literature review commissioned by the Quebec Minister of Forests, Wildlife and Parks, Pierre Dufour, for better understand caribou decline.

The measures planned by Quebec, which will be planned “in collaboration with the Aboriginal nations concerned by the caribou”, will be partly financed by Ottawa, indicates the document, which does not announce any concrete action in the immediate future.

Quebec also undertakes to publish its final strategy on the safeguarding of woodland caribou “by the end of June 2023”.

Election stake

Caribou protection promised to be part of the Quebec election campaign, which should officially begin in less than a week, particularly with the recent threat by the Innus of Pessamit to go to court to force the adoption of caribou protection.

The Legault government “won” and offers itself peace of mind, says biologist Alain Branchaud, director general of the Quebec section of the Society for Nature and Parks (SNAP).

“There is no concrete progress in what is announced”, he regrets, reiterating that the “short-term” protection of around 35,000 square kilometers (km^⁠2) critical woodland caribou habitat “must remain the priority”.

However, CPAWS Quebec welcomes “the willingness of the two governments to work together and with Indigenous Peoples to find solutions to a complex conservation issue,” declared Alain Branchaud.

The Innus of Pessamit proposed to Quebec the creation of a protected area in the Pipmuacan reservoir sector, straddling the Côte-Nord and Saguenay—Lac-Saint-Jean, in order to protect the herd that lives there, including the risk of isolation and disappearance is very high.