Quebec premier warns Ottawa not to interfere in protecting at-risk caribou

Wild caribou roam the tundra in Nunavut on March 25, 2009. New research is arguing Indigenous hunting didn't cause the collapse of once-mighty caribou herds in Canada's North. THE CANADIAN PRESS/Nathan Denette

Ottawa is threatening to intervene in Quebec to protect caribou as Premier François Legault calls on the federal government to stay out of what he considers a provincial issue.

Former Chair of the Committee on the Status of Endangered Wildlife in Canada, Marco Festa Bianchet, welcomed the ultimatum sent by Federal Environment and Climate Change Minister Steven Guilbeault to Quebec's Minister of Forests, Wildlife and Parks, Pierre Dufour.

"We can say that it is a bit the nuclear option that the federal minister has chosen, I am happy with this choice," said the professor of biology at the University of Sherbrooke.

Bianchet said that "this is really the first time that the federal government has invoked the safety nets of the Species at Risk Act" and it is necessary to do so, because "the provincial government has chosen to let the forestry industry destroy caribou habitat for several years."

In an April 8 letter, Guilbeault issued an ultimatum to Dufour to "provide, by April 20, 2022, all information regarding Quebec's protection of boreal woodland caribou and their critical habitat."

If the province does not move quickly to implement protective measures to limit the decline of the species, Guilbeault wrote that he will have to "recommend to the Governor in Council that it issue an Order in Council to protect those portions of critical habitat that are not protected."

This would allow Ottawa to force Quebec to create a protected habitat for caribou.

At a news briefing Tuesday morning, Guilbeault explained that he had tried to reach an agreement with Quebec in recent months, but without success.

"Quebec still has the opportunity to act and come to the table and negotiate in good faith, but it must be done quickly," he said.

Bianchet said, "the provincial strategy has always been to do nothing, pretend to do something and delay" in order to protect jobs in the forest industry.

The former chair of the Committee on the Status of Endangered Wildlife in Canada told The Canadian Press that caribou depend on thick, old-growth forests to protect them from predators and provide lichen for food.

Over time, the logging industry has removed much of the old-growth forest and replaced it with younger trees, depriving the caribou of its habitat and food. Also, logging roads encourage the movement of the caribou's natural predators such as bears and wolves.

LEGAULT GETTING INVOLVED

In an exchange with reporters in the afternoon, Legault criticized Ottawa's tone.

"It is a field of competence of Quebec, so we have an independent commission, which is looking into it. We must have a balance between saving the caribou, but also protecting the jobs that are important in certain regions of Quebec," the premier said.

Legault was unable to answer how many caribou are left in the province when asked.

Woodland caribou were designated as vulnerable in 2005 under Quebec's Threatened or Vulnerable Species Act, while mountain caribou were designated as threatened in 2009.

According to provincial data, from 2005 to 2016, the sum of all estimated populations of woodland caribou in Quebec ranged from 5,635 to 9,981 individuals. As for the mountain caribou, there were about 40 in 2020.

ENVIRONMENTALISTS REJOICE

The Société pour la nature et les parcs (SNAP Québec) supports the federal government's intention to act by decree.

"Faced with the lack of effective protection measures over a large portion of the woodland caribou's critical habitat in Quebec, the Canadian government is justified in using the safety net provision of the Species at Risk Act," said SNAP Quebec Executive Director Alain Branchaud.

"Quebec is not listening to the science on this issue. It has long had the recipe to halt the decline of the species, begin its recovery and protect its critical habitat," the organization said in its release.

HIGHLY CRITICIZED CONSULTATIONS

The contents of Guilbeault's letter were sent to various media outlets on the same day that the Independent Commission on Woodland and Mountain Caribou, to which Legault referred, began its work in the Gaspé Peninsula.

Over the next few weeks, the commission will hold consultations in regions where caribou are found.

The commission is headed by Nancy Gélinas -- an expert in forest economics -- but does not include any caribou experts, a fact that environmental groups deplore.

For its part, the Assembly of First Nations Quebec-Labrador (AFNQL) criticized the lack of consideration for the rights and interests of Indigenous people and communities by the Quebec government during this consultation.

"This commission is a ploy that the Ministry of Forests, Wildlife and Parks has found to once again postpone the development and implementation of the strategy for the protection and recovery of woodland and mountain caribou and their habitat," the AFNQL said.

The AFNQL is of the opinion that it only serves to legitimize the Quebec government's "inaction in the protection and recovery of the caribou and its habitat."

The objective of the Commission is to "gather the opinions of interested parties on the two theoretical scenarios proposed by the MFFP" or on "any idea that would make it possible to find a realistic and defensible balance to reconcile the objective of protecting the woodland caribou and the economic interests at stake," the group said.

"The first scenario proposed by the MFFP would aim to increase the area under restoration in the deer habitat area and would impact current forestry operations and potentially threaten jobs," it added.

"While the second would have a smaller area in caribou habitat restoration and would have no additional impact on forestry activites and thus would not threaten jobs."

But for biologist Marco Festa Bianchet, these two scenarios cannot prevent the decline of caribou populations.

"One scenario proposes that very little be done for the caribou, and it is argued that this small, insufficient gesture will cause a disaster for forest industry jobs," he said.

"The other scenario suggests that we continue to forget about the caribou's habitat and admit that this will cause the extinction of four populations in the southern part of their distribution."

This report by The Canadian Press was first published in French on April 12, 2022.