JUST SIGN HERE

May 18, 2011 was the one year anniversary of the Canadian Boreal Forest Agreement. One year of a supposedly three year agreement.  Yet on the ForestEthics Web Site a petition appears. A letter that will go to the CBFA and urge them to make permanent the 29 million hectares of designated forest before the three year planning has taken place.

On May the 22nd , 2011, I took the time to look at all the signatures that showed on the petition Site. The first 13 signatures were never revealed. There were at that time 3, 512 signatures. Only 554 signatures belonged to Canadians.

I then sorted them by Province and compared the number to the population base for 2011.

• British Columbia: 254 signatures out of a population of 4,530,960.  Major cities had 104 signatures and all total there were 78 localities represented.
• Alberta 37 signatures out of a population of 3,720,946. Major cities had 17 signatures and all total there were 11 localities represented.
• Saskatchewan had 1 signature out of a population of 1,045,622. 1 locality was represented.
• Manitoba  9 signatures out of a population of 1,235,412.  8 signatures came from a major city and 2 localities were represented.
• Ontario  188 signatures out of a population of 13,210,667.  41 signatures came from major cities, a total of 66 localities were represented and of those only 4 were in the boreal region of Ontario.
• Quebec  49 signatures out of a population  of 7,907,375. 20 signatures came from major cities.
• New Brunswick  5 signatures out of a population of 751,755.
• Nova Scotia  8 signatures out of a population of 942,506.
• Newfoundland/Labrador  1 signature out of a population of 509,739. 1 major city representing one locality.
• Prince Edward Island no response.
• Yukon  2 signatures out of a population of 34,525. 2 signatures from major city representing one locality.
• Nunavut  no response.
• Northwest Territories no response.

After compiling this list I posed a question to Hon.  Michael Gravelle and Hon. Linda Jeffrey:

Can ForestEthics say this response fairly represents the wishes of Canadians to take 29 million hectares of the Boreal Forest permanently out of production?

If you read the extra comments most are opting for 50% of the total Boreal Forest of Canada to be permanently off-limits.

Michael and Linda: please be aware the CBFA is all about taking our forests out of use, not about caring for them through sustainable use as our Crown Forest Sustainability Act mandates.