Lac Simon First Nation sues Ottawa over failure to protect Val-d'Or caribou herd

The Lac Simon Anishnabe Nation has filed a lawsuit against the federal government, arguing its failure to protect the threatened Val-d'Or caribou herd violates the nation's constitutional right to hunt.

Since 2020, the last seven caribou of the Val-d'Or herd have lived in a 14-hectare forested enclosure south of the town in northwest Quebec.

There were nine individuals alive when they were first captured six years ago, down from about 40 in the 1990s, but two have died since then, and the herd saw no new births this year.

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"It's like a zoo, they are in a cage at this time. ... A caribou is always on the move. If they're not moving, there's something wrong," said Lucien Wabanonik, Chief of the Lac Simon Anishnabe Nation.

In July, Lac Simon filed the lawsuit, arguing the federal government has failed to protect the caribou, and in doing so failed to protect its constitutional right to hunt.

In 2003, the boreal caribou were listed as threatened under the federal Species At Risk Act.

In 2024, then-Minister of Environment and Climate Change Steven Guilbeault recommended cabinet make an emergency order to save the boreal caribou in Quebec from imminent threat of extinction.

Since then, according to the nation's legal filings, the federal government has conducted multiple rounds of consultation with Lac Simon, but nothing has changed for the caribou.

Amir Attaran, lawyer for the Algonquin Anishinabeg Nation Tribal Council, believes the consultations were a stalling tactic.

"Anyone who works in Aboriginal law will have the experience of, when government wants to get something done, they don't consult, or they consult within a month. When government wants to delay, they'll consult for years," Attaran said.

In an email, Environment and Climate Change Canada said it cannot comment on a matter that is before the courts.

It added, "As stated in the Agreement for the Recovery and Protection of Caribou in Quebec, the Government of Canada reaffirms its commitment to working with and consulting Indigenous organizations and peoples in Quebec."

On June 29, 2026, the federal government met with the entire Assembly of First Nations Quebec-Labrador.

At the meeting, federal Minister of Environment and Climate Change Julie Dabrusin announced, without prior consultation with the First Nations, that they were moving forward with a funding agreement with Quebec to help protect the caribou.

Canada is set to pay up to $25 million over five years to the provincial government, in an agreement that does not mention limits on forestry projects or construction of service roads.

When The Narwhal asked the provincial government to comment on this funding agreement, it responded, "The financial agreement with the federal government will support the implementation of additional measures to conserve and restore the caribou's habitat."

It added, "The Quebec environment ministry is currently assessing potential measures, and these could include measures devoted to the Val-d'Or woodland caribou population."

Attaran noted the funding agreement doesn't specify that the money must be used for the caribou, but rather that it may be used for the species.

"There's no assurance of it doing anything here," he said.

The Quebec environment ministry said in French, "The proposed plan for the Val d'Or woodland caribou population was not submitted in accordance with the original schedule."

It added, "The Ministry recognizes the Lac Simon Anishnabe Nation's preoccupations regarding this delay."

The ministry also outlines that it has instated a moratorium on logging in the habitat, has completed some restoration of the habitat and keeps the caribou in captivity as a precaution.

In 2018, the Quebec government instituted a temporary moratorium on logging in some sections of the caribou habitat, covering 2,160 square kilometres.

However, the habitat has received no official protection, and Lac Simon has called for an immediate moratorium on the issuing of logging permits over a 5,000 square-kilometre area, which hasn't happened.

The Lac Simon maintains that the funding to be allocated to Quebec doesn't promote the conservation of the caribou and is no substitute for an emergency order.

Though the federal government has also committed $15 million for First Nations-led caribou conservation in Quebec, Wabanonik said they're not interested in that money.

"If we do take those monies, it means accepting their ways of doing things. ... And we don't accept that," he said.

The nation's case also leans heavily on wording within the Species At Risk Act.

"What we're arguing is the act may be written as 'cabinet may,' but in reality it's 'must.' And the reason it's 'must' is very simple: you have here an Aboriginal right to hunt, constitutionally protected under Section 35," Attaran explained.

Allowing such a culturally significant species to disappear is no different than extinguishing the right itself, the lawsuit argues.

According to Attaran, this argument has never been tried in a Canadian court, and he is confident the nation will receive a declaration stating that the constitutional right has been violated.

Failure to protect the herd also infringes on the Species At Risk Act, which makes the protection of their habitat partially the responsibility of the federal government.

With files from The Narwhal