The Quebec strategy for the protection of woodland caribou worries many in Saguenay-Lac-Saint-Jean and Minister Benoit Charette tried to be reassuring on Thursday during his visit to Roberval.
The Minister of the Environment, the Fight Against Climate Change, Wildlife and Parks, Benoit Charette, took advantage of his visit to discuss with several elected officials and representatives of the forest industry.
He met with elected officials behind closed doors to hear and answer their questions about the upcoming plan for the protection of woodland caribou. Many elected officials are worried, since this strategy will require the protection of certain areas of forest, which could cause the loss of nearly 2000 jobs in Saguenay-Lac-Saint-Jean in the forest industry sector. Minister Charette wanted to be reassuring.
“Yes, we have to protect the caribou, but we can’t do that without realizing the importance of an industry like forestry. There are other regions in Quebec as well for which these industries are at the heart of their activities,” explained Benoit Charette.
He specified that a modulated strategy will be put in place to take into consideration the particularities of each region.
“It is a message that we reiterate, it will not be the same solution in the region here, underlined the minister. The region will be part of the strategy that will be developed on its territory,” he said.
Regional committee
The elected officials of Saguenay-Lac-Saint-Jean want the establishment of a regional committee to enjoy a certain autonomy, said the prefect of the MRC du Fjord, Gérald Savard.
“You know, the forest is 6,000 jobs in the region, he recalled. It is a very significant saving. We want to decide what we could do to better protect the caribou, we want to take care of our business.”
For his part, the president of the Boreal Forest Alliance, Yanick Baillargeon, insisted on the importance of good communication in this matter.
“We will have to talk together, probably regionalize our decisions. Trying to see together what we can bring to this plan that could comfort everyone. Caribou protection and our forest communities,” he said.
The new woodland caribou protection plan must be tabled next June.