Press release - June 3, 2008
Greenpeace today welcomed a decision by forest-products giant AbitibiBowater to end its logging operations in the traditional territory of the Grassy Narrows First Nation and support the community in its struggle for rights over its traditional lands. The move follows a near decade-long campaign by the Grassy Narrows First Nation to suspend industrial logging in the one million hectare Whiskey Jack Forest, near Kenora.
Aerial view of Ontario Boreal Forest
"We congratulate AbitibiBowater for announcing an end to logging
in this area. It is a bold move that shows the global importance of
protecting the Boreal Forest and strong recognition of the inspired
struggle by the Grassy Narrows First Nation to protect their
traditional way of life," said Richard Brooks, forest campaign
coordinator with Greenpeace. "We are hopeful that AbitibiBowater's
decision signals a start to further improvements in its
environmental and social sustainability and relations with other
aboriginal communities."
Besides ending logging, the company will no longer purchase or
use any wood products from the Whiskey Jack Forest for its paper
mill in Fort Frances. The decision supports ongoing negotiations
between the Ontario government and the First Nation over land
rights.
The struggle by First Nations for land rights and sovereignty
continues across Canada, and the struggle to protect intact forests
and the habitat of endangered species remains.
The Grassy Narrows First Nation has campaigned years for an end
to logging it their traditional territory. The First Nation has
filed lawsuits, conducted a five-year long peaceful blockade of a
logging road and asked for an end to industrial use of its area
without its free, prior and informed consent. Greenpeace and other
environmental and human rights organizations have campaigned on
behalf of the community to help build international public and
marketplace pressure for a resolution.
Montreal-based Abitibi-Consolidated recently merged with
US-based Bowater to form AbitibiBowater, the largest newsprint
manufacturer in North America.
"The formation of a new company presents an opportunity for
positive change. The decision to end logging shows that
AbitibiBowater has recognized this opportunity," said Brooks. "The
company has many other forest operations in Quebec and Ontario
where logging in intact forest areas continues and sustainability
has not been achieved. We hope that AbitibiBowater looks to these
places next."