Environmental groups with the Canadian Boreal Forest Agreement (CBFA) have suspended negotiations in northwestern Ontario and Quebec.
The three-year-old agreement consists of environmental groups and forest companies working together to protect the environment and threatened species such as woodland caribou, while protecting the forest industry and the communities that depend on it.
Over the past several weeks, negotiations took place with Resolute Forest Products, which put forward proposals for northwestern Ontario that endorsed the setting aside of an additional 204,000 hectares of forest for conservation, providing additional protection of caribou and other species. This commitment is on top of the approximately 2,000,000 hectares of Ontario forests that have already been established as protected spaces, parks and other initiatives over the past 15 years.
“It is unfortunate the CBFA signatories were ultimately unable to reach alignment on how to strike a balance among environmental, social and economic priorities, the three pillars of sustainability,” stated Richard Garneau, Resolute president and CEO. “Rural, Northern and First Nations communities have paid a heavy price from the economic and market challenges the industry has faced over the past decade. We believe we have a responsibility to ensure that they understand and have a say in any plans that might affect their futures. Outcomes of the CBFA process that did not involve serious stakeholder consultations would have lacked legitimacy and could not have been considered reasonable proposals.
“Resolute will simply not abdicate our responsibility to address regional concerns of the North, including the First Nations' interests with whom we have a number of business and economic development initiatives already in place or pending. We agree that environmental concerns must be at the forefront, however, the regional social and economic impact must also be part of the equation.”
Al Spacek, president of the Federation of Northern Ontario Municipalities (FONOM) and Mayor of Kapuskasing, said “FONOM is disappointed that there has been a breakdown in talks to continue the Canadian Boreal Forest Agreement, which for the last three years has encouraged growth in the North.
“We are concerned that the some of the environmental NGOs fail to recognize the importance of the forestry industry to hundreds of communities in Canada. Hundreds of thousands of Ontarians rely on the forestry industry for jobs, and communities throughout the North benefit from the industry. For this reason, we all need to be working together toward a sustainable future for the environment, economy and our communities.”
FONOM will continue to encourage all members of the CBFA to get back to the table and work together for an agreement that promotes environmental sustainability, but also focuses equally on economic growth and social issues in northeastern Ontario and throughout Canada’s Boreal regions.”
