The Pontiac’s last wildlife protection office could be in jeopardy of closing, leaving the region without any employees working from inside the territory.
According to Quebec wildlife protection agents’ union president Martin Perreault, three weeks ago the province’s environment ministry announced to its regional managers that it plans to close certain offices, although he said it is not yet confirmed which ones will be chosen, or when they will close.
Perreault said the province plans to eventually close around 40 per cent of offices, including many with few or no employees left, including Campbell’s Bay.
“Campbell’s Bay, having zero agents, we’re pretty sure [it will be selected for closure],” he said, referring to staff assigned fully to the Campbell’s Bay office. One administrative employee remains working from the office a few days per week.
About 15 years ago the office in Rapides des Joachims met the same fate, with some of those agents ending up in Campbell’s Bay. At its peak, the office had more than 10 employees, some of which were game wardens, who patrolled the more than 14,000 square kilometres on the territory.
Two years ago, the last remaining agent left the Campbell’s Bay office, leaving the office unstaffed for at least a third of the working week and with no game wardens to cover the territory.
“He asked the regional commander what the outlook is to have agents in the office with him, and they told him in the short to long term there is no outlook to have anyone,” said Perreault about the last agent.
According to Perreault, game wardens are now sent to patrol the territory on a random basis according to need and availability. He is worried the closure of the Campbell’s Bay office will mean the region will not get the service it needs.
“We are already not many [agents in the province], and if the Campbell’s Bay office closes, people will not be able to be adequately covered,” he said.
Martin Riopel, a former game warden who worked in the Campbell’s Bay office until 2015, said in an area like the Pontiac, which he said is synonymous with hunting, fishing and trapping, wildlife protection agents are as essential as the police.
“Wildlife protection is an emergency service, an essential service. It is those agents who know the territory best outside of the road network,” he said.
Riopel said agents’ responsibilities range from public security issues such as in the case of an escaped animal or enforcing proper gun safety, to the enforcement of laws and quotas. He added that a lack of agents on the territory could mean that those things are no longer adequately enforced.
“Agents have a role to communicate with the public to explain what their role and function is, and the less people there will be on the ground to play that kind of role, the more people there will be on the ground to do what they want,” he said.
The province’s environment ministry maintains that there is no “rupture in service” and that the wildlife protection service “is making sure to have as wide a coverage as possible on the territory according to needs,” according to a statement in French sent by communications advisor Ève Morin Desrosiers.
“In no case is the objective to have fewer agents on the ground [ . . . ] A new cohort of 29 agents just graduated in June. Our organization is aware of the needs in terms of wildlife protection in Quebec and is cognizant of maintaining optimal coverage of Quebec’s territory, the statement read in part.
Perreault said while it is true that there are new graduates, they are being sent to the same few offices year over year, leaving many rural offices wanting for staff.
“They say these offices are going to lend a hand to the smaller office, but that’s not true – the small offices will only be running if there is a planned operation,” he said. “It’s not true that agents are sent out left and right every day.”
He said the department should be trying to spread out those agents over a broader territory to make sure all the province’s regions are well served.
“Complaints come in all the time, and even if you have 10 agents at the neighbouring office, you can’t cover the territory,” Perreault said of the government’s current strategy.
“If there’s no one on the territory, the file will end up in the trash and it will be treated the next day or the day after. But if it’s an emergency situation, it doesn’t work.”
Perreault said for his union the only way to adequately serve the needs of the public is to put people in seats near the territory it serves, not in a central office.
“They’re just looking at statistics and trying to get the job done with paperwork. It’s not the same, and it can only work by putting people in every office in the province.”
The ministry did not confirm if it has a date before which it will make a final decision on closures.
