Tell Canada to issue an emergency protection order for caribou!

Doug Ford won’t step up. Tell Canada to step in!

Last month, federal Environment Minister Steven Guilbeault determined that Ontario is not effectively protecting the critical habitat of boreal woodland caribou.

This assessment mandated him to recommend a “critical habitat protection order” to cabinet.

Over the past several years, a succession of federal environment ministers, following their legal obligations, have made similar recommendations to cabinet to intervene in provincial jurisdiction and protect the habitat that boreal caribou need to survive and recover.

Yet cabinet has not approved any on-the-ground action. Instead, it’s relied on often vacuous provincial promises of future action.

Ten days after learning of the federal assessment, Ontario announced a significant cash flow for caribou management. But it’s not clear how the money will be spent. It could, for example, be spent on research and more process, when what’s needed is immediate habitat protection and restoration (for which the province has no public-facing plans or targets).

Ontario’s forest management protocol doesn’t protect caribou habitat.

Tell cabinet its leadership is needed.