Indigenous leaders, environmental groups and experts say the province isn't being transparent as it tries to modernize the forestry sector. They worry logging companies will have too much sway over what forest gets cut.Logs are shown at a softwood lumber sawmill in Saguenay, Que. The forestry sector has been under strain and the province is trying to make changes to support it. But Indigenous groups and environmentalists say the government is working too closely with the industry.
"Quebec has to be transparent about what their real intentions are," Ghislain Picard, the chief of the Assembly of First Nations Quebec-Labrador, told"To us, it seems very clear in light of all the information that we have, that the industry seems to be prevailing in what Quebec is trying to do." "Elders go out into the territory and they don't recognize it anymore," Ratt said in an interview. His First Nation has a long history of fighting against clear-cutting logging in its territory, and reached"Enough is enough," Ratt said. "Anybody that comes into our territory — they will be asked to leave.
The plans are being developed as Quebec and Ottawa remain at odds over a plan to conserve caribou habitats. Martin-Hugues St-Laurent, an expert on caribou habitat at the Université du Québec à Rimouski, said the reforms will need to include greater protection of old-growth forests for caribou herds to have any hope of survival.