Grassy Narrows First Nation, Whiskey Jack Forest and AbitibiBowater

Whiskey Jack Forest

Communities within or adjacent to the Whiskey Jack Forest include:

City of Kenora (including the former Keewatin and Jaffray Melick)

Sioux Narrows

Redditt

Vermilion Bay

Ear Falls and

Red Lake

First Nations communities in this area include:

Asubpeeschoseewagunk Netum Anishinabek (Grassy Narrows First Nation), Wabauskang First Nation, and Naotkamegwanning (Whitefish Bay First Nation).

The Whiskey Jack Forest is a logging management unit of just over one million hectares of the Boreal Forest located in Northwestern Ontario. The forest is near Kenora and borders the province of Manitoba.

The Ministry of Natural Resources has issued a Sustainable Forest Licence for logging the area to AbitibiBowater. The company’s logging supplies wood to its own mill in Fort Frances and supplies hardwood to the Weyerhauser TrusJoist mill near Kenora.

Grassy Narrows First Nation and the Whiskey Jack Forest

Most of the Whiskey Jack Forest management unit overlaps with the traditional territory of the Grassy Narrows First Nation. This community has lived for thousands of years on 2,500 square miles of land north of Kenora.

About half the community members still sustain themselves from the land by traditional activities of hunting, trapping, and gathering medicine and berries.

State of the Whiskey Jack Forest

• Only 5.7 per cent of the forested land (8.42 of all land) in the Whiskey Jack Forest is protected from logging.
• More than 76% of the forest has been degraded or fragmented by clearcuts, logging roads and other development.
• Only 6.3 per cent of the old growth forest remains

Grassy Narrows begins organizing against destructive logging

Mid 1990s, Grassy Narrows begins actively organizing around destructive logging by Abitibi-Consolidated on its traditional territory.

Grassy Narrows Blockade

Young people from the Grassy Narrows community start a blockade of a logging road. The blockade continues. The young people were fed up with more than a decade of meeting protests, legal challenges and letter writing that had not led to any resolution of community issues.

Greenpeace raises concerns with Abitibi-Consolidated

Greenpeace first raised concerns with Abitibi-Consolidated over logging in the traditional territory of the Grassy Narrows First Nation.

First Nations invite Rainforest Action Network

In 2004, the First Nation invited the Rainforest Action Network to support its campaign and help bring market pressure and international attention to the issue.

Greenpeace breaks off dicussions with Abitibi-Consolidated

June 2005, Greenpeace breaks off ongoing discussions with Abitibi-Consolidated over lack of progress and action on the ground to improve operations.

Greenpeace activists hang a banner from Abitibi-Consolidated's Montreal headquarters

July 2007, Greenpeace activists hang a massive banner from the Montreal headquarters of Abitibi-Consolidated protesting the company's logging of intact forests across Ontario and Quebec, lack of responsible forestry, and ongoing conflicts with First Nation communities.

Chain of Destruction report released

August 2007, Greenpeace issues a markets report on the destruction of the Boreal Forest by Abitibi-Consolidated and Bowater and the conflict with the Grassy Narrows First Nation is highlighted. The report called on major corporate consumers to stop buying the products of these companies.
Download Consuming Canada's Boreal Forest

Amnesty International releases position paper on Grassy Narrows

September 2007, Amnesty International releases a position paper on Grassy Narrows.

Greenpeace blockades boreal pulp shipment

September 2007, Greenpeace blockades a shipment of pulp manufactured from former Abitibi-Consolidated subsidiary SFK Pulp (which gets the majority of its wood from Abitibi-Consolidated) in the Lac St Jean region of Quebec. The pulp is destined for European magazine markets.

Greenpeace Netherlands blockade a shipment of Abitibi-Consolidated newsprint

October 2007, activists with Greenpeace Netherlands blockade a shipment of newsprint from the Abitibi-Consolidated Baie Comeau, Quebec mill in the port of Zeebrugge. The newsprint is destined for Dutch and German newspapers.

Abitibi-Consolidated and Bowater merge to form AbitibiBowater.

November 2007, the merger of Abitibi-Consolidated and Bowater is completed. AbitibiBowater emerges.

Office Depot insists on 30% FSC-sourced for flyer and insert paper

December 2007. Office Depot, a customer of AbitibiBowater, specifies that 30% of its flyer and insert paper must come from Forest Stewardship Council certified sources, effectively eliminating AbitibiBowater from that portion of the paper supply.

German newspaper publishers cancel or reduce contracts with AbitibiBowaters

In late December 2007 and January 2008, a number of German newspaper publishers cancel or reduce contracts with AbitibiBowaters. The contracts are believed to be worth approximately $10-12 million.

Boise's Whiskey Jack Forest announcement

February 2008. Boise announces they will no longer buy any pulp that contains wood from the Whiskey Jack Forest from the AbitibiBowater Fort Frances mill.

Greenpeace and AbitibiBowater begin formal discussions

May 2008. Greenpeace begins to have more formal discussions with AbitibiBowater.

Grassy Narrows Youth March to Queen's Park

Late May 2008. Youth from Grassy Narrows walk from the community to Queen's Park to bring attention to the plight of their community.

AbitibiBowater announcements

June 2008. AbitibiBowater announces an end to logging in the Whiskey Jack Forest, an end to use of any wood from the forest for its Fort Frances mill, and a desire to transfer the Sustainable Forest License to a new entity.