On July 27, 2010, I was in receipt of a letter from the Hon. Linda Jeffrey. Minister, OMNR. which outlined the Ministry's approach to managing and protecting Ontario's Boreal Forests and Woodland Caribou Habitat.
Having chaired the Local Citizen's Committee for Nipigon East Forest Management Unit for almost 15 years I do know how we were managing our forests under the Crown Forest Sustainability Act and all species specific guides. I do know that our Forest Management Unit worked with the Caribou Mosaic prescriptions from 1995 on. We were audited at least twice in that time.
I read that you, Ms Jeffrey, believe that Ontario is a leader in sustainable forestry practices.
Good. So do I.
This couldn't happen over night.
I read that you believe that Ontario has a world renowned forest management planning system in place to ensure the sustainability of our Crown Forests.
Good. So do I..
This couldn't happen over night.
In fact the Policy Framework for Sustainable Forests was approved by Cabinet in 1993. The Forest Policy Panel of 1992 were : Peter Duinker, Margaret Wanlin, Tom Clark and Fred Miron. Some of these people are still active in forestry related goings on even today.
MY QUESTION TO THE MINISTER:
Why has the Ministry of Natural resources not defended the Forest Management Units and attendant companies of Ontario who manage our Crown Forests in such world renowned ways against the slurs and lies of ForestEthics and the outright political domestic interference of the Ivey Foundation in the S.A.R. legislation?
I do not believe these ENGOs have a place at the table for negotiations about the disposition of our Ontario Crown Forests. These ENGOs do not live in Nipigon, Terrace Bay, Beardmore, Longlac, Dorion, Jellicoe, White River and now an even more distressed community of Dubreuilville; nor contribute to the economic growth of any Northern Community.
The ENGOs have, over the years, fomented resource industry intolerance in the cities of Ontario and the world. They call it 'de-marketing campaigns" and "Do - Not - Invest threats".
You think this is not happening in our backyard? Terrace Bay ,Ontario, - Kimberly -Clark's head office in the States was picketed by Greenpeace for four years. Greenpeace wore them down, then handed them a modus operendi to get them off KC's back. By the end of 2011, Kimberly -Clark will eliminate the purchase of any fiber from the Canadian Boreal Forest that is not FSC certified. This forest is North America's largest old-growth forest, providing habitat for threatened wildlife such as woodland caribou and a sanctuary for more than one billion migratory birds. ...it goes on about carbon storage and recycled fiber...and then it gets to the part about protection of areas that have the potential to be designated as Endangered or High Conservation Value forests. They want their fiber from non-controversial, FSC certified sources. So in 2009, KC pledged to buy only from FSC certified tenures and exclude endangered and high conservation value forests.
This is how compassionless their explanation was: "When its former supplier, Buchanan Forest Products, refused to meet the fundamentals of this new policy, Kimberly-Clark ended its purchases from Ontario's Terrace Bay pulp mill and took its business elsewhere. As late as 2004, the company had been purchasing 90 percent of the pulp produced by this mill, approximately 395,000 tonnes, which at a market price of $600 per tonne was valued at approximately $227 million US."
This was in a foot note to Building A Green Economy in the Boreal Forest, Greenpeace, November 2010. A 35 page proposal on how we in the northern Boreal Forest are supposed to be able to make a living, written by the same organization that has just about destroyed us.
These ENGOs are funded in most part by money from the United States parent organization (mostly Pew).
Obviously money gets what it wants.
However, it is the people without money, without jobs or even a source of a job, such as a mill, that you have to listen to. These people contributed to the economic growth of their northern communities. These people followed all the rules that government guidelines laid out. These people made your world renowned forests that the ENGOs covet.
Are we privileged or what?
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