Caution urged as mining companies eye critical minerals below Quebec boreal forest - BNN Bloomberg

Currently, there are nearly 400 mining exploration projects in the boreal forest of the Eeyou Istchee, the traditional lands of the James Bay Cree. It is unclear how many of these will result in operating mines in the coming years, but there is potential, and the government wants to take advantage of it.

Henri Jacob, an environmental activist and president of the group Action boréale, says the representatives of the Cree Nation and the Quebec government who are promoting La Grande Alliance must avoid “making the same mistakes as in Abitibi.” In that region of northwestern Quebec, the mining industry tore up the boreal forest “without any concern for future generations” and took “possession of 40 per cent of the land,” he said.

Munson says there is no escaping that the energy transition will require critical minerals."If we want to reach the climate targets and the deadlines we have set for ourselves to stop selling gasoline vehicles, this transition will have to be relatively fast, and, for the moment, the available technologies require lithium extraction," she said.

The Nottaway woodland caribou herd, whose habitat extends into the ancestral land of the James Bay Crees, was estimated at 282 individuals in the most recent inventory, down eight per cent from 308 in 2016. However, scientific models using satellite telemetry provide more pessimistic estimates.

The report by the James Bay Native Development Corporation and the Cree Development Corporation indicates that 54 terrestrial mammals, 184 bird species and 16 protected species, such as beluga, caribou and polar bears, frequent the study area, which extends between the towns of Matagami to the west, Whapmagoostui to the north and Mistissini to the east.

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