Thank you so much, Mr. Chair.
Thank you to the committee for the invitation to speak to you today. My name is Justina Ray. I am president and senior scientist of Wildlife Conservation Society Canada, but I'm also an adjunct professor at the University of Toronto and Trent University. I'm a wildlife biologist by training. I've worked on caribou one way or the other for almost 20 years, conducting field research in Ontario; leading evaluations on caribou status for the Committee on the Status of Endangered Wildlife in Canada, or COSEWIC; and advising both provincial and federal governments on caribou recovery and critical habitat.
My remarks today will directly address the first point of the committee's study—the threats facing caribou and the measures that can be taken to protect them. Here I will outline why this proposed emergency order is not a radical intervention; why the available scientific evidence is sufficient to act; and why this intervention, while necessary for the goals of caribou recovery, is merely a stopgap measure.
The first point is that based on my review of the available evidence, the emergency order is not only justified but could also have been extended even further when looking at the point of view of caribou. It targets three boreal caribou populations in Quebec at exceptionally high risk of extinction, but our evidence shows that the order could have been applied to additional populations in Quebec that are also in poor shape. As well, the scope of the order is conservative, with limited areas of interest within each area or each range, and the prohibitions don't restrict everything. For example, they don't restrict mining activities. Overall, this proposed intervention, from the point of view of caribou recovery, is a restrained response to a well-documented emergency situation.
My second point is that it's a common tactic for those uncomfortable with the outcomes of scientific assessments to call for additional studies to be sure. I would strongly advise not to capitulate to this narrative. Boreal caribou are among the most well-studied wildlife species in Canada. Research consistently shows that habitat disturbance leads to population declines. This relationship has been documented repeatedly across multiple jurisdictions across Canada and acknowledged by governments, including that of Quebec.
For one thing, the population surveys that form the basis of this assessment were diligently conducted by Quebec government biologists to the highest of standards, yielding high-quality data that provide a clear picture of the status of boreal caribou populations in the province. Similarly, habitat loss and degradation in these areas have been thoroughly documented. For these three populations in the proposed emergency order, habitat loss has been continuously increasing to such an extent that more precise estimates of this would not change the overall diagnosis of the situation. There is very little habitat of any kind left in these three ranges, so more sophisticated or detailed habitat analyses are unnecessary. In this vein, delaying intervention under the guise of seeking more data only increases the risk of irreversible losses and makes future recovery efforts more costly and complex if your goal is to recover caribou.
My third point is that the proposed emergency order is fundamentally an emergency stopgap measure designed to address an immediate crisis. This is a critical and urgent step to prevent further declines while more permanent systemic solutions are developed and implemented. It's important to emphasize that neither Canada nor Quebec has stated that preventing extinction alone is sufficient, nor have they said that other factors should justify the loss of these populations. They still maintain that they want to have self-sustaining populations, but there's been no meaningful action beyond the monitoring program initiated in 2017. A lot of experience tells us that these kinds of continued delays reduce the likelihood of success and will lead to higher costs in the long term.
In conclusion, the scientific evidence supporting the need for emergency intervention is clear and compelling. Accordingly, the proposed emergency order is not an overreaction but rather a necessary and proportionate response to a crisis that has been brewing for years—if, again, the goal is to recover caribou to self-sustaining populations. The situation is not unique to Quebec. Similar challenges exist across Canada where boreal caribou populations are declining and have reached or are reaching emergency status.
That's it. Thank you so much.