It appears that steps are finally being taken to increase protection for caribou herds in Eeyou Istchee.
In April, federal Environment Minister Steven Guilbeault called for an emergency decree, warning Quebec that it must come up with a provincial plan to adequately protect the woodland caribou and their natural habitat by April 20. Now, after months of unsuccessful negotiations with Quebec Premier François Legault, Ottawa is implementing a first-of-its-kind emergency protection plan for the province’s caribou.
“Environment and Climate Change of Canada has updated the caribou protection assessment for Quebec, allowing me to form an opinion on the protection of this critical habitat,” Guilbeault said in a statement. Guilbeault now points to the forestry industry, saying logging and the network of multi-use roads are among the activities that, to date, have “contributed most to habitat disturbance.”
Researchers at the University of Toronto and Université du Québec à Montréal found that more than 140,000 square kilometres of forest had been logged in parts of Quebec and Ontario from 1976 to 2020. Researchers noted older forest areas are crucial habitats and affirmed that caribou populations should be met with a “restoration” response rather than a “conservation” approach.
Legault, for his part, is steadfast in saying that the federal move infringes on provincial jurisdiction.
However, the Society for Nature and Parks (SNAP Québec) has been pleading for months for Ottawa to intervene. According to data the organization has gathered, there are about 20 areas in need of immediate protection. They cover at least 35,000 square kilometres, or 2.3% of Quebec territory. The Val-d’Or and Charlevoix herds, which currently live only captivity, each have under 10 breeding females and over the next decade, the Pipmuacan herd could also be in a similarly threatened state.
Some herds in Quebec are close to “crossing the threshold of near disappearance,” Guilbeault underlined, recommending federal intervention before the end of July. This means that the Pipmuacan, Val-d’Or and Charlevoix woodland caribou herds could soon be subject to federally imposed protection measures.
This provision in the Species at Risk Act (SARA) has never been used, although it is similar to Ottawa’s decree to protect Quebec’s chorus frog population. Once in effect, the caribou protection act could remain in force for five years.
“We are in uncharted territory,” said Guilbeault, noting the order would mean federally imposed protections on thousands of square kilometres of old-growth forest. He emphasized that it is his “legal obligation as environment minister to act” in accordance with SARA.
The Assembly of First Nations Quebec–Labrador (AFNQL) have long decried Quebec’s failure to consider the rights and interests of First Nations in relation to its commission, calling it a “glaring lack of consideration.”
The AFNQL says that “the provincial commission’s mandate is to assess the economic impacts of caribou protection measures on the forest industry, rather than to take into account the impacts of logging on caribou and the rights of First Nations.”
Waswanipi forest activist Allan Saganash says that for the protection act to succeed, Indigenous leaders and tallymen must be at the forefront of discussions and decisions.
“Consultation is all about protecting our rights and trying to find a balance in development in the territory,” Saganash told the Nation. “It can be done but right now everything is so lopsided because everything leads towards the forestry industry. We signed these agreements with Quebec, not the forestry industry, but they are still always invited to the discussion table.”
When Indigenous representatives are outnumbered and their knowledge undermined, Saganash says progress is immediately stalled. “You end up having nine people all from forestry and logging companies or government positions. And they are all sitting across the table from one tallyman.”
Too many identified wildlife areas are fragmented by logging, say Cree tallymen. They say that cutting and road construction in past years has been excessive, especially within the context of the 2023 forest fires.
“The birch, aspen and shrubbery that sprouts up naturally after a forest fire, that is all considered weeds and plowed over,” tallyman Paul Dixon explained to The Nation. “This just shows that the Ministry of Energy and Natural Resources and forestry companies do not understand the Cree way of life. They don’t understand that forestry causes a lot of kill zones. They are not only killing the trees, but also the roots that were there thousands of years underground. The animals don’t go there, they won’t come back until the natural forest returns.”
Dixon says that while this obviously pushes caribou out of their natural habitat, it is an act that attacks Cree livelihood in multiple ways, like when logging companies only plant the highly flammable coniferous woods that sawmills demand.
“For wildlife, there is no difference between a spruce sapling and a plastic tree. They are extremely flammable, and they’re even planted in unnatural rows so it’s always windy there. It’s a dead zone that can become destructive force with a single spark. They are cutting down Cadillacs and replacing them with cars like the one Mr. Bean drives.”
Dixon says that one thing he notices after logging companies leave are distraught seasonal birds. “They nest in the conifer stands of jack pines and spruce but that’s the first thing the sawmills take away. They are killing lots of birds with this unsustainable and unchecked forestry development. You’ve got to realize that the industrialized world is destroying hunting societies that rely on these natural ecosystems.”