The governments of Canada and Ontario have reached an agreement to support the conservation and recovery of boreal caribou in Ontario.
The boreal caribou is an iconic species. It is listed as a threatened species under both the federal Species at Risk Act (SARA) and the Ontario Endangered Species Act. By entering into a conservation agreement under section 11 of SARA, the governments of Canada and Ontario will collaborate to take important actions to benefit the caribou and its recovery in Ontario.
Together, Canada and Ontario are acting on a shared commitment to caribou conservation and recovery. The agreement builds on Ontario's ongoing caribou conservation program and the federal caribou action plan, through cooperation and investment in monitoring, reporting, protection, restoration, planning, management, and stewardship actions.
It includes the following commitments:
- Planning and implementing habitat restoration activities.
- Increasing protection of boreal caribou habitat through protected areas and other effective area-based conservation measures.
- Using evidence-based approaches to manage for self-sustaining local populations.
- Monitoring and reporting on current and projected future population and habitat conditions.
- Collaboration and implementation of conservation measures that are informed by independent experts, Indigenous communities and organizations, and stakeholders.
Given the importance and widespread interest in boreal caribou conservation, Canada and Ontario hosted several engagement sessions with Indigenous communities and environmental organizations, as well as industry stakeholders, to seek input to inform the final conservation agreement.
The governments of Canada and Ontario have committed to providing over $5 million each in funding in 2022-2023 to support implementing conservation measures that rely on evidence-based approaches, including Indigenous traditional knowledge. The agreement will be key to managing the caribou recovery in a way that supports strong communities and local economies in the face of other factors such as climate change.
