Caribou population needs federal protection: letter

Several First Nations and Indigenous groups have asked the federal government to step in and protect some endangered caribou herds on provincial land in Alberta.

In a letter to federal Environment Minister Catherine McKenna, the coalition said Alberta hasn’t met Ottawa’s deadline for coming up with a plan to save five threatened herds in the northeastern part of the province heavily impacted by forestry and oilsands development.

They said if Alberta won’t make the move, Ottawa should.

“Despite the good efforts by some companies, there’s nothing right now that prevents a new oil and gas well or a new oilsands mine or a harvest cutblock from destroying critical habitat,” said Barry Robinson of Ecojustice, one of the groups that signed the letter.

Others included the Cold Lake First Nations, the David Suzuki Foundation and the Alberta Wilderness Association.

Robinson said McKenna could use the Species At Risk Act which gives Ottawa the power to issue a “safety blanket” order.

That order, said Robinson, obliges the federal minister to step in if provincial protections for critical habitat of an endangered species on Crown land are inadequate.

The formal petition delivered to McKenna on Monday, along with the letter, goes through 11 Alberta laws and concludes none offers legal protections, although Robinson noted some companies try to minimize damage to caribou herds.

Alberta and six other provinces continue to fail to meet a federal deadline to release recovery plans for threatened herds in their jurisdictions. That deadline passed in October.

McKenna has said her office will study measures taken by the provinces and decide in April whether those protections are enough.