B.C. First Nation wants more say in forestry after Canfor mill closure announcement

FORT ST. JAMES, B.C. — A British Columbia First Nations leader says the province must rethink its approach to the forest industry in light of Canfor Corp.’s decision to shutter two sawmills and leave 500 workers without jobs.

Nak’azdli Whut’en Chief Colleen Erickson says First Nations must play a bigger role in the industry’s future in B.C. because Indigenous entities would not be “sending our profits elsewhere” as corporations not headquartered locally would.

Erickson’s comments Friday come after Canfor announced it will close mills in Vanderhoof, B.C., and Fort St. John, B.C., by the end of the year.

The Vancouver-based company says the challenge of accessing economically viable timber for fibre, ongoing financial losses, weak lumber markets and a big increase last month in U.S. tariffs all played a role in the decision.

But Erickson says most First Nations members in the area weren’t surprised Canfor could not access affordable fibre anymore due to what she calls “unsustainable” harvesting practices.

She also says an industry with heavier First Nations involvement would not shutter mills in B.C. and invest elsewhere because local community members “are not going anywhere.”

“I think most people have come to that (conclusion) because of the fact that they can just close their doors and go elsewhere to log, and everybody’s basically left on their own (here),” Erickson says.

“There’s no remediation on their part. There’s nothing to compel them to use some of the profits to help people diversify into something else. If things were local, then it would be a local discussion.”

The call for more local management of forest assets has been echoed by unions, including the Prince George, B.C., local of United Steelworkers whose members comprise 325 of the 500 positions lost in the closures.

“There needs to be a better effort by government to decide what vision they have for the industry in B.C.,” Scott Lunny, director of the union’s Western Canada district, said in a previous statement.

“If Canfor won’t do it, find a company that will invest in B.C.”

Public and Private Workers of Canada national president Geoff Dawe says while members of his union are not directly impacted, he agrees that companies that are not invested in local communities should lose their forest tenure rights.

“The government needs to step in and say, ‘Look, if you’re not going to use this tenure, then we need to give it to somebody that is,'” Dawe says. “Because we have a community here, and they should be looking after that community’s best interest.”

Provincial industry group BC Council of Forest Industries has said in light of the Canfor closures that advancing new agreements with First Nations is one key priority the province should have in safeguarding the sector’s future.

“New approaches to First Nations stewardship, forest tenure, treaty, and equity and investment will support economic reconciliation and build stronger partnerships with Indigenous communities,” council CEO Linda Coady said in a previous statement.

But the group also says the province also needs to be “providing a reliable supply of fibre to the industry.”

Erickson says that is where the province need to talk to First Nations more because she feels her community is more knowledgeable about sustainable management of forests locally than others from elsewhere.

“It’s very frustrating that we’ve come to this point,” she says. “But for sure we need to look at the remaining resource that we have and see how we can do better.

“We definitely need to do something different.”

— Chuck Chiang in Vancouver

This report by The Canadian Press was first published Sept. 6, 2024.

The Canadian Press