MONTREAL — First Nations welcome the decision of the Superior Court which orders the government of Quebec to put in place, by September 30, 2024, a separate consultation process with them, in order to protect forest and mountain caribou.
The Quebec government has “failed the honour of the Crown”, there is “an urgent need to act” and it “should have launched a consultation process a long time ago”, we can read in the Superior Court judgment.
The decision rendered on June 21 by Judge Marie Cossette constitutes the court’s response to an appeal initiated in February 2022 by the Councils of Essipit and Mashteuiatsh according to which Quebec had failed in its constitutional obligation to consult them in connection with the development of a caribou protection strategy.
“The Court agrees with us” and “we will hope that Quebec commits to respecting this decision and that it adjusts accordingly by participating in an open consultation process” and “in sincere and honorable participation” , indicated the head of the Innu Council of Mashteuiatsh, Gilbert Dominique, in an interview with The Canadian Press.
The government failed in its “duty of honour”
Quebec’s reluctance “to collaborate with us in this matter is unacceptable,” according to Gilbert Dominique, who recalled that the government has been promising caribou protection measures since at least 2016 in the Innu communities of Essipit and Mashteuiatsh, located on the North Shore and in the Saguenay–Lac-Saint-Jean region.
At that time “we had raised the possibility of being consulted in certain processes, but these processes were never formally proposed by the government of Quebec,” indicated Chief Dominique.
In its judgment, the court emphasizes that the government has informed the First Nations several times that their participation in the development of a caribou protection strategy was important.
For example, the court document recalls that the Minister of the Environment, Benoit Charette, has repeatedly indicated that communities could “participate in the co-construction of the Strategy” so that it is developed taking into account their issues. and their concerns.
These statements “gave rise to legitimate expectations among the plaintiffs, outside of their constitutional right to be consulted,” according to the judgment.
However, we can read in the decision, “the government failed in its duty of honor towards the plaintiffs”, because it “did not trigger such a process” and “did not respond to legitimate expectations” of the First Nations.
“The caribou situation is deteriorating”
Judge Marie Cossette wrote that not only is the right of the First Nations to be consulted “violated”, but “the situation of the caribou deteriorates further during this time and the government is still not able to indicate to the Court the time at which the envisaged Protection Strategy will be communicated.
It therefore follows “that their ancestral rights and titles are all the more threatened given the central place occupied by the caribou, whose condition continues to become fragile,” wrote the judge.
Logging and protection of large massifs
To prevent the species from disappearing, Chief Gilbert Dominique believes that “we must protect certain large areas that are home to the caribou.”
But we must also consider no longer building new forest roads to extract wood in the species’ habitat and also reforesting certain roads.
Protecting the caribou will necessarily have consequences on jobs in the forestry industry, according to Chief Dominique.
“It’s obvious, there are going to be shocks, we agree. So, how can we ensure that we mitigate these consequences? (…) We must find solutions,” indicated the head of the Innu Council of Mashteuiatsh.
The chief of the Innu Essipit First Nation, Martin Dufour, wrote in a press release that he wants Quebec to accept the judge’s decision and participate in consultations “with openness” and in a “sincere and honorable” manner.
The Canadian Press requested a reaction from the office of the Minister of the Environment who, in an email exchange, wrote this: “We have taken note of the decision rendered by the Superior Court, which we will study before commenting further. »
