First Nations in Canada call for emergency order to protect southern mountain caribou

The Syilx Okanagan and Xatśūll First Nations have petitioned Canada's federal government under Section 80 of the Species at Risk Act for an emergency order protecting southern mountain caribou habitat in British Columbia. Three remaining herds in Syilx-Okanagan territory range from 185 down to just eight individuals, with a fourth herd already extirpated in 2023.

Provincewide, 15 of 40 caribou herds have disappeared or become too small to be viable over 20 years, with populations falling from nearly 10,000 in 1991 to about 4,700 in 2023. The petition argues British Columbia has not honored a 2011 commitment to reverse caribou declines, and a 2025 study found logging occurred four times more often in old-growth forests recommended for protection than elsewhere.

Emergency orders under the Act are rarely issued — only twice since 2003 — and would let the federal government override provincial jurisdiction to restrict logging and road-building. Researchers describe the caribou decline as slow and continuous, driven by logging that has drawn in moose, deer and the predators that follow them into caribou range.

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