The Legault government’s lack of collaboration with the Trudeau government in protecting the forest caribou would deprive Quebec of hundreds of millions of dollars that could be used to finance habitat preservation measures, but also economic diversification in regions dependent on the forestry industry.
At a time when the Minister of Natural Resources and Forests, Maïté Blanchette Vézina, was participating in the “parade of dignity” organized by the forestry company Boisaco to denounce the proposed federal decree to protect three caribou populations on the verge of extinction, the Société pour la nature et les parcs (SNAP Québec) published a document on Friday that concluded that collaboration with the federal government would allow Quebec to rake in hundreds of millions of dollars.
In its brief submitted as part of the federal consultations on the draft emergency decree, the organization points out that British Columbia, Yukon and Nova Scotia have already concluded multi-million dollar agreements for the protection of nature, in particular to achieve the objectives of the new Global Biodiversity Framework adopted at COP15 in Montreal in 2022.
The Trudeau government has indeed planned investments totaling five billion dollars over 10 years as part of its “2030 Nature Strategy”. Funding can be granted in particular for the protection of species at risk, but also for terrestrial natural environments, with the objective of protecting 30% of these spaces by the end of the decade.
Instead of a dispute over competences
The case of the woodland caribou fits well with these objectives, according to the general director of SNAP Québec, Alain Branchaud. By protecting boreal forest massifs that are conducive to deer, he explains, we could significantly increase the surface area of protected areas and ensure the preservation of the habitat of several dozen other species that need the same natural environments.
“There are huge amounts of money available to the provinces from the federal government for the protection of nature and endangered species such as caribou, and Quebec is stubbornly perpetuating a dispute over jurisdictional competences,” adds Pier-Olivier Boudreault, director of conservation at SNAP Quebec.
“This money could help limit the socio-economic impacts of caribou protection measures by financing a just transition for forest communities and the restoration of caribou habitat,” he emphasizes.
In British Columbia, $500 million has been injected by the federal government. Quebec could hope to get up to $650 million, estimates SNAP Quebec, emphasizing that this sum would double the amount already planned by the CAQ government for its “Nature Plan for 2030.”
This plan, presented as part of COP15, aims to “achieve the next global target by implementing measures to conserve natural environments”, but also to “support indigenous nature conservation initiatives” and to “act on the threats to biodiversity”.
Quebec currently protects approximately 257,000 km2 of its territory and it must pass more than 453,000 km2 by 2030. Critical caribou habitat alone would represent a gain of at least 35,000 km2.
“Glaring delay”
SNAP Québec also recommends that the government carry out a more exhaustive “socio-economic” analysis of the matter.
“Currently, almost all assessments carried out by governments take the form of impact analyses that do not take into account social and cultural variables in decision-making, nor the real cost of inaction and the possible disappearance of this emblematic species of immense value for indigenous communities,” explains the organization.
Several Quebec scientists have already suggested that the government use proven financial tools to protect the province’s mature forests. One option would be to launch “carbon credit” projects on public lands covered with forests. Since companies must buy greenhouse gas emission rights to comply with provincial regulations, they could do so here.
“This crisis is not a conflict between caribou and forestry workers, but rather the result of the blatant delay by the Quebec government in taking action when the solutions for both caribou and workers are within reach,” concludes Alain Branchaud, biologist and general director of SNAP Quebec.
“To get out of the status quo, we may have to consider putting our leaders in a caribou pen until communication between the two governments is re-established and real solutions can be implemented,” he says ironically.
The last nine caribou in Val-d’Or live in captivity, as do the caribou in Charlevoix and more than half of those that remain in Gaspésie. But 11 of the 13 populations of deer that live in Quebec are at risk of disappearing, mainly due to the destruction of their habitats by the forestry industry.
“Among the most worrying populations are of course those of Pipmuakan, Charlevoix and Val-d’Or, but to this list are also added the Assinica, Manicouagan, Outardes, Témiscamie and Nottaway populations,” notes SNAP Québec in its brief.
Federal Environment Minister Steven Guilbeault authorized an open-pit mine in the “critical habitat” of the Nottaway caribou herd last year. And the proposed federal decree for the Val-d’Or caribou will not slow down the development of a major mining project in the habitat of Quebec’s most endangered herd, revealed The Duty this Friday.