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With the Committee on the Status of Endangered Wildlife in Canada (COSEWIC) now officially designating the Snowy Owl (Bubo scandiacus) as a threatened species nationwide, alarm bells should be ringing in Québec. The iconic bird, honoured as our provincial emblem nearly forty years ago, remains legally unprotected here — an unsettling irony that reflects our province’s long-standing disconnect between symbolic recognition and concrete action.

"This designation confirms what many already suspected. The decline we’re seeing across Canada very likely holds true for Québec. Yet here, in the absence of consolidated data - and even more so, real political resolve - the warning signs continue to be ignored."

The Snowy Owl’s decline is driven by a troubling mix of climate and human pressures. As Arctic warming accelerates, the lemming populations these owls depend on are collapsing — devastating breeding success. On top of that come human pressures during the owl's annual migration south - including collisions with infrastructures and, more concerningly, poisoning from rodenticides used in agriculture.

"This is a screaming example of how deeply entangled we are with wildlife. People forget we’re not separate from nature — our survival is just as dependent on healthy ecosystems as any other species. No artificial system can ever replace what wildlife and functioning habitats gives us: clean air to breath, food to eat, and a climate we can live in. Only ecosystems can make that possible."

Far from being distant or abstract, the Snowy Owl’s struggle is a mirror of our own. As a sentinel species of the rapidly shifting Arctic — one of the first regions to feel the bite of global change — its trajectory warns us of what’s to come. Let this moment serve as a rallying cry: not just to protect a single species, but to finally act on the growing mass of warnings we’re receiving from nature.

"Québec must close its legislative gap, and Canada must accelerate concrete, coordinated action — for the sake of biodiversity, yes, but also for our own future. This is not a moral luxury; it's a vital necessity."