Criticized from all sides for having blamed indigenous communities for the decline of the forest caribou, the government walked on the paint Thursday by insisting, this time, on the will of all the actors concerned to work “together”.
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The Minister responsible for Indigenous Affairs Ian Lafrenière tried to reframe the message to correct the statements made by Pierre Dufour, Minister of Forests and Wildlife.
“We have to work together. When I say together, that means the foresters, the industry, the vacationers and also the members of the First Nations, affirmed Mr. Lafrenière. We all have a role to play in caribou preservation. »
The day before, Minister Pierre Dufour had declared, in connection with an article in the Journal reporting that 50 woodland caribou had been killed during expeditions by the Innu community of Nutashkuan on the North Shore, “that they other than them neither do they help the situation”.
However, the decline of the species in Quebec is mainly caused by logging and the government also wishes to protect jobs in this sector.
“Minister of Inaction”
Mr Dufour’s outing has been called ‘hypocritical’ ‘unfortunate’ ‘malicious’ and even an example of ‘systemic racism’. Thursday morning, the PQ added a layer. Pascal Bérubé notably affirmed that the declaration was not necessary. “It unduly targets indigenous nations,” he said.
“Ian Lafrenière, who is a nice guy, who is a caring guy, who is a professional, must have been discouraged to hear that yesterday,” he continued, even adding that Mr. Dufour is only a minister. to ensure regional representation.
Manon Massé, spokesperson for Québec solidaire on aboriginal issues, for her part referred to Mr. Dufour as being the “minister of inaction” having completely failed to protect the species. The two opposition parties are calling for the Ministry of Forests and Wildlife to be split.
Disappointed Innu chief
In the hours following Mr. Dufour’s statements on Wednesday, Minister Lafrenière received calls from the chiefs of various First Nations communities. In particular, he spoke with the head of the community of Nutashkuan, Réal Téttaut, who said he was disappointed and did not understand why their community was thus targeted. A meeting is also scheduled for next week between Mr. Téttaut and the two ministers. Mr. Téttaut did not call back the Journal.
The Minister for Aboriginal Affairs also said he was “poorly placed” from his Montreal office to comment on the hunting expeditions that took place on the North Shore. “That’s why I spoke to chef Réal Téttaut, telling him that I had questions, I wanted to know what had happened and above all how we are working together for the future. […] for the hunt that happened, I wasn’t there, I don’t have all the details. But does that raise questions? The answer is yes.”
As for Minister Dufour, he was more expeditious by repeating the message of the day while implying that this was what he was trying to say the day before:
“As I told you, it’s collectively that we’ll end up being able to solve this problem: the foresters, the government, the communities, everyone together, that’s how we will be able to solve the problem.”
Exasperated by the Legault government’s lack of action, however, Canada’s Environment Minister Steven Guilbeault has given Quebec City until April 20 to demonstrate its ability to act, otherwise the federal government will take care of it itself by decree.
Reference-www.journaldequebec.com