Environment: struggles that will continue in 2025

The environmental issues that hit the headlines in 2024 are likely to punctuate them again in 2025. Whether it concerns land use planning, air quality or the protection of water resources, most of the demands and tensions will continue in the coming months.

Caribou protection

Projects to protect forest and mountain caribou have given rise to a standoff between Quebec and Ottawa, but also between the various environmental defense organizations and the First Nations. Quebec biologists deplored what they described as lack of courage and vision.

Let us add to these divergent points of view regarding the solutions to be implemented the remodeling of protected areas. These are now the MRC who will have their say. Calls for area projects have been launched, while the Quebec Ministry of the Environment is still moving forward with its intention to protect up to 30% of the province’s public territory by 2030.

That said, many projects submitted were refused by several MRCs, as Bianca Bédard, of the Abitibi-Témiscamingue Regional Environmental Council, pointed out at the end of the year.

Currently, in Témiscamingue, people are going through a crisis in terms of forestry, we will not hide it. So, it is certain that it is sensitive to come and propose protected area projects. We see this as a drop in forest potential. But that wasn’t quite itshe mentioned.

There were projects that included areas of high conservation value for those who cut forests in that area, so we were not taking away forestry possibilities for many of the projects that were presented.

Meanwhile, the situation in the Val-d’Or enclosure continues to stagnate. In 2024, no new births have been recorded in the small captive herd.

Unlike the captive caribou in Charlevoix and Gaspésie, the Val-d’Or herd did not welcome any new calves this year.

Other conservation measures must be put in place. There are a few females that are quite young and still capable of giving birth. It has been well known for a long time that there is not enough genetic mixing within the Val-d’Or herd.

It is certain that we cannot expect the population to recover on its own or in an enclosure without doing anything else.adds the environmental specialist in the natural resources department of the community of Lac-Simon.

Water, this threatened blue gold

In Témiscamingue, the Onimiki project opposes two environmental visions: the production of renewable energy and the question of preserving the Kipawa River.

The subject has been the subject of several reports on this development carried out by two indigenous communities and the MRC of Témiscamingue, including an episode of the show Green week.

The Quebec government has not hidden its interest in building small hydroelectric power stations and Investissement Québec would also be ready to provide financing.

The protection of water was also expressed in Senneterre’s concern for the esker which provides it with its drinking water and which the Municipality wishes to protect from mining. A formal request was made to the government.

The municipal council adopted a resolution to request a ministerial decree from the Minister of Natural Resources and Forests, Maïté Blanchette Vézina.

Air quality continues to be a concern

In June, Quebec said it was ready to grant up to $2.6 million to Glencore to reduce its atmospheric emissions, through various emissions reduction projects. This subsidy was linked to the aid measure for the decarbonization of Quebec’s industrial sector. These funds were to benefit the business units of the Raglan mine, the CCR refinery and the Horne Foundry in Rouyn-Noranda.

Later in the year, it was mentioned that the Aeris project would not happen as it had been presented. The multinational company said the plan was worth nearly $1 billion and was too expensive. The mayor of Rouyn-Noranda, Diane Dallaire, said she had been reassured by discussions with leaders of the foundry and representatives of the Ministry of the Environment.

At the Rouyn-Noranda municipal council, citizens maintained their demands and, during the fall, several demonstrators converged from different regions of Quebec, including director Anaïs Barbeau-Lavalette. The Legault government continues to kneel before a millionaire multinational from which it allows to buy the right to pollute. There is no reason for Rouyn-Noranda to be a sacrificed zone more than the rest of Quebecshe said.

Related file, the Falco Resources urban mine project which was the subject of consultations by the Bureau d’audiences publique sur l’environnement (BAPE). The BAPE report was submitted on December 23, 2024. It must be published no later than 15 days after its submission to the minister, which means around January 6, 2025.