Quebec ignores species at risk and hides recommendations

Although it has announced a catch-up in terms of protecting animal species, the Quebec government is still ignoring at least 10 and up to 23 recommendations from its scientists, learned The Press. They demand that we protect other endangered animals and, above all, that Quebec show more transparency.

From March 2009 to October 2012, the Advisory Committee on Threatened or Vulnerable Wildlife Species recommended that 34 species, subspecies or populations be protected, according to a table obtained under the Act respecting access to documents held by public bodies and the protection of personal information. Only two of them are today protected by the Act respecting threatened or vulnerable species (LEMV).

The wildlife component of what was formerly the Ministry of Forests, Wildlife and Parks, now part of the Ministry of the Environment, refused to transmit to The Press the most recent recommendations, less than 10 years old.

“If there is a commitment to transparency, that’s not where it manifests itself, that’s for sure,” reacted biologist Pierre Dumont, who has sat on the Committee since 2014, currently under reconstruction. “We cannot disclose either the species or the recommendations, which is, we agree, completely absurd,” added his colleague David Rodrigue, also a biologist, member of the Advisory Committee since 2001.

The Minister of the Environment, Benoit Charette, announced on December 5 that 27 additional species will be protected, including 24 that were among the recommendations dating from more than 10 years ago transmitted to The Press.

This means that at least 10 recommendations targeting eight species or subspecies and two different populations remain unimplemented.

Among them, the harbor seal of the Lacs des Loups Marins (Phoca vitulina mellonae) and two beluga populations (Delphinapterus leucas) are considered threatened, i.e. their “disappearance is apprehended”.

Six others are assessed as “vulnerable”, that is to say that their “survival is precarious even if the disappearance is not apprehended”. This is the common nighthawk (Chordeiles minor), short-eared owl (Asio flameus), peregrine falcon anatum/tundrius (Falco peregrinus anatum/tundrius), Canada warbler (Cardellina canadensis), rusty blackbird (Euphagus carolinus), marsh frog (Rana palustris), lake sturgeon (Acipenser fulvescens) and Atlantic sturgeon (Acipenser oxyrinchus).

Minister Benoit Charette’s office did not explain why these were not announced, simply replying that “steps could be taken to designate them”, without providing a timetable for this. sense.

Recommendations kept secret

The table obtained by The Press indicates that 55 species have been assessed in total since March 2009, while no additional wildlife species had been protected since September 2009 in Quebec. This means that up to 13 other species could be subject to protection recommendations that the government ignores and wishes to keep secret.

“The list of species assessed must be public, the status recommendations made must be public, the arguments behind the recommendations must be public and, above all, the arguments behind the treatment that the minister makes of them must be public”, claimed Mr. Rodrigue, deploring that the members of the Committee currently do not have the right to speak about it. “As long as there is not that, they will be able to answer you what they want. »

Despite repeated requests to this effect and although it has recently agreed to do so for plant species, Quebec refuses to make public the most recent recommendations of the Wildlife Advisory Committee.

“The 2009 list is no longer up to date,” argued Mélina Jalbert, of Minister Benoit Charette’s office, in response to requests from The Press. “It is not relevant to publish these lists before this work is finalized. A reasoning that makes no sense, according to the members of the Committee consulted by The Press.

It appears that the Minister largely based the December 5 announcement on these old recommendations. The Committee recommended as early as 2010, for example, that the Western Chorus Frog be upgraded from “vulnerable” to “threatened” status. Five of the species that must obtain protection status have been the subject of a recommendation by the Committee since March 2009.

M^me Jalbert did not provide a timeline for the release of the next recommendations or for the formation of the new Committee, whose current three members (out of seven seats) met Monday for the first time after a five-year hiatus.

“It is certain that when we are talking about a situation that dates from 2009, there may be recommendations that change,” said Pierre Dumont, member of the Committee. Some species may have seen their situation deteriorate, for example.

But in any case, “I think it should all be transparent, added the biologist. I don’t see why this list presents a danger. She will have to be re-evaluated. […]but I don’t see why it wouldn’t be a transparent process.