Achi news desk-
Quebec Environment Minister Benoît Charette has announced plans to invest $59.5 million to implement projects to protect caribou, which are heavily disturbed by human activity, and is launching regional consultations in the Charlevoix and Gaspés.
These measures are not enough, however, according to his federal counterpart.
Federal Environment Minister Stephen Gilboa expected the Legault government to submit its caribou conservation strategy by May 1, failing which the portfolio could fall back into his hands.
Without presenting a provincial strategy, Chart chose what he described as “major” and “historic” steps aimed at certain regions.
But he offered few details about the measures at a news conference in Sainte-Agade-de-Monts on Tuesday.
This is how the minister described a “rough detail” of the investment of almost 60 million dollars.
“This year, $7.5 million will be dedicated to population monitoring and management,” and “$7 million will be proposed this year for habitat restoration. In total, $60 million will be divided equally between the two ministries,” he explained briefly, referring. Ministry of Natural Resources and Forestry.
In a press release, the government wrote that “for the two territories targeted by the regional projects, a legal designation of habitats for wild animals of a threatened or vulnerable species has been established, within the framework of the law respecting the preservation and development of wild animals.”
The Quebec government also intends to expand the Cariboo-Forestaires-de-Manouin-Manicougan Biodiversity Reserve (about 4,826 square kilometers).
Potential conflict between Quebec and Ottawa
The measures introduced Tuesday affect three of the province’s 13 caribou populations.
In a press release, federal minister Stephen Guilbeau expressed concern about further delays in publishing the Quebec government’s “caribou strategy.”
He noted that “several key elements” are missing from Quebec’s presentation, including the government’s commitment to reduce the rate of disturbance in caribou habitat “so that at least 65 percent of the area of ​​each caribou population is undisturbed.”
Guilbeault criticized the fact that “the announcement is silent on the number of caribou populations” and wrote that more steps are needed to ensure the survival of the species.
On Tuesday, Chart noted that in his government’s view, “it is not the role of the Canadian government to intervene in this matter,” and that his government “controls this jurisdiction.”
He added that “the federal government has reached agreements with the other provinces”, but Quebec “goes much further than the other provinces, not only in terms of the measures themselves, but also in terms of budgets”.
Urgent need for action
In August 2022, the Independent Panel on Forests and Mountain Caribou submitted a report to the government in which it emphasized that there is “an urgency to act” and that it is necessary to “proceed as quickly as possible with the development and implementation of a strategy for the protection and recovery of forest caribou.”
Within days of the report, Quebec and Ottawa reached an agreement in principle to protect the species, and the province committed to publishing its final forest and caribou strategy by the end of June 2023.
Chart postponed the date, however, because of the forest fires raging at the time in Quebec. The government asked to examine the effect of the fires on caribou and forestry operations.
Guilbeault then asked the district to submit its strategy before May 1, 2024.
Quebec is playing a dangerous game
Nature Quebec welcomes the investment of 59.5 million dollars and the “regional projects” for protection and restoration, but “finds it unacceptable that the caribou strategy promised five years ago has not yet been revealed” and that the government is content to present “regional projects”.
In a press release, Nature Québec writes that it believes “Quebec is playing a dangerous game and opening the door wide to federal intervention.”
For its part, the Société pour la nature et les parcs (SNAP Québec) welcomes the “removal of the partial blocking of the caribou file” in Quebec City, and claims that the Minister of the Environment has presented measures that have the potential to contribute to the recovery of Gaspe and Charlebois caribou.
However, SNAP Quebec director Alain Brancheau stated that in the absence of a clear timetable for the delivery of a caribou strategy to the entire territory, and in light of the urgency to act, we stand by our demand for rapid intervention by the federal government to provide targeted protection to herds on the verge of collapse, especially the Pipmuakan herd.
Consultations
The government invites the public to take part in a public consultation on projects specifically aimed at protecting the forest caribou population in Charlebois and the mountain caribou population on the Gaspe Peninsula.
Under the Endangered or Vulnerable Species Act, the woodland caribou was designated as a vulnerable species in 2005.
By February 2022, the Quebec government captured the Charlebois herd, which numbered 16 animals at the time, and placed it in an enclosure as part of a controversial program to prevent the extinction of herds in isolated areas.
Gaspe mountain caribou live in the Chic-Choux and McGarrigal mountain ranges. This population was designated as a threatened species in Quebec in 2009. Now only about thirty of them remain.
The caribou population has been in decline in Quebec for several years. Now there are only about 5,000 forests or mountain caribou left in Quebec.
Logging is the main cause of this precarious situation, with road cutting destroying habitat and encouraging the movement of the caribou’s natural predators, such as bears and wolves.
This report by The Canadian Press was first published in French on April 30, 2024.
