In response to the federal government’s announcement today on boreal caribou titled, Government of Canada sets timeline for Ontario to take action on Boreal Caribou conservation
Wildlands League Executive Director Janet Sumner has issued the followed statement:
Feds set another timeline? What this is in reality: Canada blinked.
And this is not the first time.
This delay will enable thousands more of hectares of caribou habitat to be logged on top of the forest that burns.
While we welcome the factual finding once again that Ontario is not effectively protecting habitat, we don’t see evidence that Ontario is going to change course.
In fact, they’ve made their plans quite clear: double logging, burn more forest for biomass, hand over lands to the mining sector for critical minerals.
This is a failure by Canada to timely enforce its Species at Risk Act.
Boreal caribou can’t wait. I call on all members of the federal cabinet to act. It’s not enough to talk about biodiversity conservation when the world comes to Canada for summits and international conventions; words need to be matched with the hard work and tough decisions of halting and reversing the loss of nature in our own backyard. This means when provinces like Ontario fail to get the job done, Canada steps in.
A green transition is a lie if it happens at the expense of carbon rich boreal caribou habitat.
About
Wildlands League is one of Canada’s pre-eminent conservation organizations.
We are strategists and policy experts standing up for nature. Our goal is to make sure at least half of the country is protected forever. We work at the intersection of climate change and nature, recognizing the overlapping nature of these existential threats to life on the planet.
Wildlands both, tackles irresponsible development that threatens precious rivers, lakes, wildlife habitat and carbon reserves; and collaborates with communities, governments, Indigenous Nations, scientists and progressive industry to protect nature.
We are a not-for-profit charity that has been working in the public interest since 1968.
Contact Information
Janet Sumner, Executive Director
janet@wildlandsleague.org
416-579-7370
