United Nations Biodiversity Conference | Quebec urged to protect caribou

Quebec must adopt immediate measures to protect the woodland caribou, demand two Innu communities from the North Shore on the eve of the United Nations conference on biodiversity (COP15).

The First Nations of Essipit and Pessamit will participate in this great world summit which will be held from December 7 in Montreal to “put on the agenda the irreversible damage” that the decline in biodiversity is causing for them.

“The first thing we are asking for is caribou habitat restoration with a long-term commitment from the Government of Quebec,” explained to The Press Michael Ross, Director, Development and Territory, Council of the Innu First Nation of Essipit.

One way to achieve this would be to materialize the project of the community of Pessamit to create a protected area in the sector of the Pipmuacan reservoir, straddling Saguenay–Lac-Saint-Jean and the Côte-Nord, to protect the herd there. of caribou of the same name, threatened with extinction.

“An immediate registration of our project [au Registre des aires protégées du Québec] would be a good step forward,” he told The Press Jérôme Bacon-Saint-Onge, Vice-Chief of the Innu Council of Pessamit.

It could be a last-ditch call from the Innus of Pessamit, who in August sent a formal notice to Quebec, as to Ottawa, urging them to protect the caribou.

” The request [judiciaire] has not yet been submitted, but the drafting is in progress,” explained Mr. Bacon-Saint-Onge.

The Innus of Essipit launched a legal action last February with the Innu First Nation of Mashteuiatsh, in Lac-Saint-Jean, accusing Quebec of having failed in its obligations to consult them for the protection of woodland caribou and of its habitat.

The two indigenous nations hope that Quebec will lead by example on the occasion of COP15, which must define a global framework for the restoration of nature by 2030.

“It’s definitely a great place, a good time to make announcements,” suggests Michael Ross.

Continuation of cuts

Essipit and Pessamit deplore that Quebec continues to authorize logging on their territory while it prepares its strategy for the recovery of caribou, expected by June after having been postponed.

“The answer we get from the Government of Quebec is: ‟since there is no strategy yet, we will authorize the cuts”, deplores Mr. Ross. For us, this is a total aberration. »

Each new logging in an already very degraded habitat will make its restoration even more difficult, warn Essipit and Pessamit.

“We see it as a strategy to delay, delay and delay as much as possible to exploit the territory as much as possible and then say that the habitat is too degraded to be restored”, accuses Michael Ross.