Federal and Ontario governments agree to significant collaboration on caribou conservation

May 16, 2024 – Ottawa, Ontario

Together, Canada and Ontario are working to protect and conserve biodiversity, habitat, and species at risk in Ontario by expanding parks that protect habitat for caribou, bolstering science, and investing in the conservation and recovery of caribou.

Today, the Honourable Steven Guilbeault, Minister of Environment and Climate Change and Minister responsible for Parks Canada, and the Honourable Andrea Khanjin, Ontario Minister of the Environment, Conservation and Parks, announced the following progress toward caribou conservation.

Funding to help further implement the federal–provincial Conservation Agreement:

The Government of Canada is pleased to announce an investment of $29 million for conservation measures in Ontario. Through this commitment, Canada and Ontario have dedicated a combined total of almost $70 million toward Conservation Agreement implementation over five years (2022–2027). The additional federal funding will enable Ontario to continue building on early progress outlined in the first annual report and further advance conservation measures.

Release of the 2022–2023 Annual Report for the federal–provincial Conservation Agreement:

In March, Ontario released the first annual report under the five-year Conservation Agreement detailing progress on implementation from April 2022 to April 2023. Working together with the Government of Canada, Ontario has shown progress on all 13 conservation measures of the Agreement, most notably implementing caribou population monitoring in priority ranges; exploring enhanced protection; progress toward developing a science plan for caribou in Ontario; funding of stewardship projects; and progress on the commitment to review, refine, and validate existing and alternative evidence-based approaches to maintain or move toward self-sustaining Boreal Caribou local populations.

New provincial monitoring data:

Through the Conservation Agreement, Ontario committed to develop and implement an ongoing monitoring program for all Boreal Caribou ranges in the province. As part of its Boreal Caribou Monitoring Program, Ontario completed aerial surveys in four ranges in 2023 (Kesgami, Kinloch, Brightsand, and Churchill), and two ranges in 2024 (Berens and Sydney). Now live, the year-one monitoring summary report outlines aerial survey results for the ranges surveyed in 2023.  

New Science Assessment Report:

An expert group of federal and provincial government scientists, university/academia, industry/sector, and non-governmental organizations has reviewed the scientific evidence that underpins each of the federal and provincial Boreal Caribou management frameworks. We thank the expert group for their valuable contribution to this process. The publication of the Science Assessment Report today is an important milestone in the implementation of the federal–provincial Conservation Agreement, specifically the commitment to review existing and alternative evidence-based caribou conservation approaches.

In line with the Science Assessment Report recommendations, Ontario is working to:

• Deepen its understanding of caribou populations by conducting more monitoring, and developing and implementing a Boreal Caribou Knowledge Plan
• Create models and incentives to encourage knowledge sharing through the implementation of the Knowledge Plan and the Caribou Conservation Stewardship Program
• Identify effective management actions, for example, assessing ways to restore caribou habitat, and also through the scheduled 10-year review of the Forest Management Guide for Boreal Landscapes (the “Boreal Landscape Guide”)

Ontario and Canada are committed to adaptive management in caribou conservation and will continue to collaborate to review the recommendations of the Science Assessment Report and use them to refine implementation of the Conservation Agreement.

The expansion of provincial parks benefitting Boreal Caribou:

Ontario is proposing to proceed with expanding two protected areas as part of the Caribou Conservation Agreement. If approved, these expansions would entail the addition of up to 44,000 hectares (nearly 109,000 acres) to existing provincial parks—equivalent to nearly half the size of Prince Edward County. It is anticipated that the proposed expansions will proceed for implementation as early as 2025.

Over the coming years, the Government of Canada looks forward to reviewing Ontario’s progress as momentum builds on implementing the many conservation measures in the federal–provincial Agreement.