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The Quebec government had originally said it would release the strategy in June, before postponing the deadline to the end of the year. The province has still not released its plan.

"I am extremely concerned by the additional delays, taking into account the extremely precarious situation of this species and the need to quickly put in place concrete and ambitious conservation measures," Guilbeault wrote.

Quebec's woodland caribou population has declined as a result of habitat destruction, industrial activity and increased predation, with a provincial commission estimating in 2022 that there were about 5,200 of the animals left in the province.

The Species at Risk Act requires the environment minister to recommend that an emergency protection order be issued if he or she believes an animal listed under the law is faced with an imminent threat to its survival or recovery.

This is the third time in nearly two years that Guilbeault has written to Quebec °µÍø½ûÇø Minister Benoit Charette suggesting he may seek a caribou protection decree.

After the first letter, sent in April 2022, Quebec and Ottawa reached an agreement in principle about protecting the caribou, which called for Quebec to release its strategy by June 2023.

However, Charette pushed that deadline back to the end of 2023, citing the need to study how Quebec's record forest fires had impacted the caribou, before delaying the release again.

In an interview earlier this month, Charette declined to say when his government would release its strategy.

This report by °µÍø½ûÇø was first published March 18, 2024.