Environment Canada has hosted a public forum in Saskatoon on the controversial boreal caribou recovery draft strategy.
Several Aboriginal elders disagree with the claim by scientists that caribou don’t survive in areas that have been disturbed by man.
Environment Canada biologist Greg Wilson says information gathered from both scientist research and Aboriginal communities suggests otherwise.
“Well, they probably don’t always avoid man-made disturbances — but what you have to keep in mind is that with the models that we’re doing, its not that they always avoid them, but how that affects their survivorship and whether or not they’re able to have calves successfully. And what the research has been suggesting and what our research says and what the aboriginal information that we gathered said was that disturbances are not good for caribou.”
Many elders were also concerned about why the meeting was held in Saskatoon, and not in the north, where the communities are most affected.
The strategy is supposed to take effect in March.