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That order, said Robinson, obliges the federal minister to step in if provincial protections for critical habitat of an endangered species on Crown land are inadequate.

The formal petition delivered to McKenna on Monday, along with the letter, goes through 11 Alberta laws and concludes none offers legal protections, although Robinson noted some companies try to minimize damage to caribou herds.

Alberta and six other provinces continue to fail to meet a federal deadline to release recovery plans for threatened herds in their jurisdictions. That deadline passed in October.

McKenna has said her office will study measures taken by the provinces and decide in April whether those protections are enough.

It’s time for action, said Robinson, who added Ottawa has already let its own deadlines slip by. The 2012 federal document that contained the deadline the provinces have now missed was itself five years late.

The Cold Lake First Nations said no recovery plans have been developed for the herds they depend on despite new industrial disturbances being approved regularly.

“They (Alberta) had five years and where are the plans?” asked band Councillor Kelsey Jacko in an email.

“I don’t see them. And the situation is getting worse. Something has to be done.”

Alberta did not immediately respond to a request for comment. It has previously said it’s trying to find ways to protect habitat with as little economic impact as possible.

Caribou are in decline across the country.

A 2015 federal assessment found 81 per cent of Canada’s 51 woodland caribou populations are declining. The reasons are thought to stem from habitat loss and damage from forestry, energy development and wildfires.

The assessment concluded those populations will decline at least another 30 per cent in the coming years.