First Nations heads urge Quebec to scrap forestry reform bill

Montreal Gazette

2 days ago

Quebec Politics
QUEBEC — Representatives of the Assembly of First Nations Quebec-Labrador urged a provincial legislature committee on Tuesday to abandon a forestry reform bill that would reserve large swaths of the province's forests for logging.
AFNQL Chief Francis Verreault-Paul and three other leaders called on the government to work with them to develop a new bill from scratch because they say Bill 97 does not respect First Nations' ancestral rights.
The proposed legislation would divide the province's public forest land into three zones: conservation zones, multi-purpose zones and forest development zones where the forestry industry is prioritized.
Lucien Wabanonik, chief of the Anishnabe council of Lac Simon, said the idea of handing over a third of forests to industry is a non-starter in the eyes of First Nations.
'We want to collaborate. But not on the basis of your bill,' he said. 'We reject your bill. We can't restart on a foundation that's already broken.'
Instead, he urged the government to 'start again ... this time with us First Nations as co-builders.'
The bill tabled this spring by Natural Resources Minister Maïté Blanchette Vézina specifies that activities that 'restrict the carrying out of forest development activities' would be prohibited in the development zones, as would the implementation of conservation measures.
The goal of the bill is to protect communities that rely on the forest industry amid an uncertain economic context, including a trade war with the United States, the minister said in April.
Blanchette Vézina wrote in a recent memo that the government hopes at least 30 per cent of public forests in each region will become development zones by 2028.
In a news conference in April, she described the idea as a 'triad,' with the forest being split into three parts of approximately equal size.
However, a spokesperson for the minister told The Canadian Press that this number was intended for 'guidance principles.'
'Regional forest managers, taking into account local and regional realities, will determine the percentage of priority forest management areas,' Émilie Savard wrote in an email.
The AFNQL told the committee the bill represents a 'major step backward' for reconciliation with First Nations, stating that it would be privatizing one third of their territory for industrial interests.
'Protecting biodiversity and our way of life, and respecting the ancestral rights of First Nations, this is not an option that governments can choose to opt in or out of,' Verreault-Paul told the hearing.
Verreault-Paul also said First Nations did not feel that there had been a true consultation on the legislation.
Blanchette Vézina, in response, highlighted how the government had taken numerous steps to draft the bill.
'If 14 meetings, parallel tables, a discussion table on the future of the forest, a national table where we can talk nation-to-nation to look at amendments for a bill, that is not suitable, then what will be suitable?' she asked.
The text of the bill sets out measures on consultation with Indigenous communities, 'including the drawing up of an Indigenous community consultation policy by the Minister of Natural Resources and Forests and a process harmonizing the activities pursued by Indigenous people with the forest development activities provided for by the specific forest planning.'
Jérôme Bacon St-Onge, the vice-chief of the Innu Council of Pessamit, said true consultation requires the government to do more than just listen to the concerns of First Nations.
'We can discuss, but without integrating them into the draft of the bill I think we're going around in circles, and will once again promote the degradation of our forests, which are central to our identities as First Nations,' he said.
Bacon St-Onge said the goal of forestry reform should prioritize conservation over the interests of the forest industry, and should likely set aside 60 per cent of forests for that purpose.
The committee's review began Thursday and it is hearing from unions, forestry companies, groups representing municipalities as well as outdoor outfitters and Indigenous leaders. The process continues Wednesday.