Caribou habitat disrupted for mining in Provincial Park, funded by Government
Wilderness Committee
Mine company NiCan Limited was given public money for mineral exploration in documented caribou habitat in Grass River Provincial Park
WINNIPEG / TREATY 1 TERRITORY AND HOMELAND OF THE MÉTIS NATION — The Manitoba government is paying a mining company to disrupt core boreal caribou habitat inside Grass River Provincial Park. In a March 4 news release talking about critical minerals, the government announced that NiCan Limited was receiving funding from the province to explore mining claims near Snow Lake. According to Wilderness Committee research, this area lies inside a four-season core boreal caribou habitat within the provincial park.
“The most sickening aspect is that the Manitoba government is using our public money to destroy part of this provincial park, where caribou live year round, for corporate profit,” said Eric Reder, Wilderness and Water campaigner for the Wilderness Committee.
While the new Manitoba government inherited the renewed push for mineral exploration in parks — the Progressive Conservative government began authorizing mineral exploration in southern parks in 2018 — the number of mining claims in parks has increased since the 2023 election, from 659 clams to 681 claims.
“We know that the previous government was toxic for the environment, but Manitobans voted for change and we expect an end to industrial activity in parks, including logging and mining,” said Reder.
NiCan Limited’s mining claims are in an area identified by the Manitoba government as being used by boreal caribou during all four seasons of the year, according to the caribou collar data provided to HudBay mining company in 2013 and presented at public meetings for the Reed Mine. Wilderness Committee mapping confirmed the mining claims and the high-caribou-usage habitat extensively overlap.
Boreal caribou is listed as a threatened species under the federal Species at Risk Act. In the 2012 federal recovery strategy for boreal caribou, the provinces were given five years to produce range action plans for each range in their jurisdiction. Manitoba has not completed any caribou action plans. In 2022, five years after they missed the legal deadline on caribou action plans, the PC government signed an agreement with the federal government to complete draft action plans for the Naosap-Reed unit — a boreal caribou management unit — by March 2023, and all nine boreal caribou units by March 2024. None of these action plans have been produced yet.
“It is exhausting and enraging to see the Manitoba government continue to break federal species law on boreal caribou and, more importantly, fail to act despite knowing how to care for caribou,” said Reder.
Update: Changed title to reflect government statement.
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Background information
For more information please contact:
Eric Reder | Wilderness Committee
204-997-8584, eric@wildernesscommittee.org
