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Commentary About “Mining Marshall Plan for Northern Ontario” – by Fred Haavisto (Sault Ste. Marie Community Forester)

I read your latest article this evening in Northern Ontario Business (Mining Marshall Plan for Northern Ontario).  This was very well done, informative and a must read for every provincial and federal politician from Ontario.  You have made many key points that should be taken under consideration immediately, if not sooner.   Of course, the article tickled a number of thoughts in the mind of a lowly forester who has experienced the wilds of northern Ontario, especially those areas that have a peat substrate and high water levels.

Thank you for the heads-up on Quebec’s “Plan Nord”.  By your comments, it is much more meaningful than Ontario’s “Growth Plan for Northern Ontario 2011”.  However, as the authors said of the Ontario document….”…This Plan is a strategic framework that will guide decision-making and investment planning in Northern Ontario over the next 25 years”.

Your recommendations for a “Mining Marshall Plan” are to the point, imperative to the implemented, and applies equally well to the forest industry.  In actuality, Mining and Forestry should probably work hand-in-hand. 

1) Transportation infrastructure is necessary for both, but should not be restricted for the sole use of either or both of these sectors. 

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[Northern Ontario] First Nation chief stays behind as community flees forest fire – by Tanya Talaga (Toronto Star – July 24, 2011)

Tanya Talaga is a Queen’s Park reporter with the Toronto Star, which has the largest circulation in Canada. The paper has an enormous impact on Canada’s federal and provincial politics as well as shaping public opinion.

THUNDER BAY, ONT.—A steady stream of 20 Hercules flights have evacuated 2,800 people from Sandy Lake First Nation but Chief Adam Fiddler refuses to leave.

A relentless forest fire has crept within 9 kilometres of Sandy Lake, a community more than 500 kilometres northwest of Thunder Bay along the Manitoba border. “I have to stay,” the 38-year-old Oji-Cree chief told the Star from his band office.

“I have an obligation. A traditional role and a personal one, to keep everyone and the community safe,” said the married father of three. As of Saturday, there were 117 forest fires burning through 500,000 hectares across northern Ontario and 3,951 people have been evacuated.

Fiddler is using untraditional means to stay in touch with Sandy Lake residents, who have been moved to 11 different areas as far south as Ottawa and Kitchener. Each day he uploads a progress report on YouTube in both English and Oji-Cree. He’s even posted online helicopter surveys of the fire and videos of hungry dogs on the reserve being fed.

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Northern Ontario communities band together to help evacuees – by Carys Mills (Globe and Mail – July 23, 2011)

The Globe and Mail is Canada’s national newspaper with the second largest broadsheet circulation in the country. It has enormous impact and influence on Canada’s political and business elite as well as the rest of the country’s print, radio and television media.

GREENSTONE, ONT.— In a cramped high-school kitchen on the Ginoogaming First Nation reserve, Krista Taylor fries bacon and toasts bread, making breakfast for close to 100 forest-fire evacuees.

She labours in the kitchen with two other women from the reserve who have worked the eight-hour shift that starts at 7 a.m. Some evacuees are asleep in nearby classrooms and the gym, while a few others chat by the school’s front doors.

Ginoogaming, with an on-reserve population of about 160 people, has stepped up to feed and house evacuees from the Sandy Lake First Nation, where forest fires rage. The community near Greenstone, Ont., about 250 kilometres north of Thunder Bay, opened its doors when more than 1,600 people were flown out of Sandy Lake this week, after the government deemed the level of smoke blowing from nearby fires was too treacherous.

For Ms. Taylor, the choice to help was simple. “I like cooking and it’s good to help these people,” she said, wearing a name tag on her T-shirt reading “cook.” It’s been about a decade since she worked at an evacuation this large in the area.

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A genuine emergency [Fire in northwestern Ontario] – (Thunder Bay Chronicle-Journal Editorial – July 21, 2011)

The Thunder Bay Chronicle-Journal is the daily newspaper of Northwestern Ontario.

A TELLING perception about evacuations from Northwestern Ontario’s fast-moving forest fire situation reportedly came from Grand Chief Stan Beardy. Gazing in disbelief Wednesday at a fire map dotted with more than 100 little red arrows representing fires licking close to some Nishnawbe Aski Nation communities, Beardy reportedly told Mayor Keith Hobbs that there’s a perception among evacuees that Thunder Bay doesn’t want to take in any more of them. Nothing could be further from the truth. But Hobbs said an absence of provincial co-ordination had left both men wondering who would take charge of a situation that’s been turning more desperate by the hour.

Thousands of people have been flown out of northern reserves on federal military aircraft headed for Thunder Bay and a number of other transfer points. Thunder Bay, at least, quickly turned into a pinch point because provincial aircraft that were expected to move them out to other communities haven’t been arriving in time.

Hobbs, Beardy and Thunder Bay Fire Chief John Hay were struggling Wednesday to deal with an emergency that hadn’t been declared. Beardy asked why the province hasn’t announced one while Hobbs and Hay were trying to coordinate evacuees pouring into the city with nowhere to go. All three men were calling provincial officials to step up co-ordination but they were getting nowhere.

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Dubreuilville sawmill operator frustrated by wood competition – by Ian Ross (Northern Ontario Business – July, 2011)

Established in 1980, Northern Ontario Business  provides Canadians and international investors with relevant, current and insightful editorial content and business news information about Ontario’s vibrant and resource-rich North. Ian Ross is the editor of Northern Ontario Business ianross@nob.on.ca.

Community struggling

Dubreuil Forest Products (DFP) is facing a future without a Crown wood supply. One of Canada’s last great company towns will not go down without a fight, said its sawmill general manager.

Dubreuil Forest Products (DFP) mill manager Dave Jennings said despite the government’s rejection of his company’s application for Crown fibre in the provincial wood supply competition, the dimensional lumber producer will find a way to carry on.

“We’re going to fight on, we’re not going to quit, we’re not going to go away and we’re going to do whatever it takes to ensure that the community and the mill survives.”

Jennings called the province’s plan to put Crown wood back to work “anything but fair” and said the Ministry of Northern Development, Mines and Forestry’s (MNDMF) decision to strip his mill of wood supply will “imperil the town” and affect future livelihoods.

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Reform revolt: [Northern Ontario] Opposition to Bill 151 grows – by Ron Grech (The Daily Press- April 13, 2011)

Ron Grech is a reporter for The Daily Press, the city of Timmins newspaper. Contact the writer at  rgrech@thedailypress.ca

During a week when the Ontario professional foresters are gathered in Timmins, the province is taking it on the chin over plans to reform forestry tenure.

Both the Federation of Northern Ontario Municipalities (FONOM) and the Nishnawbe Aski Nation (NAN) issued statements Wednesday condemning the government over Bill 151 — The Ontario Forest Tenure Modernization Act.

The day before that, Timmins-James Bay MPP Gilles Bisson challenged Northern Development, Mines and Forestry Minister Michael Gravelle over what the local MPP felt was a lack of consultation being conducted in Northern Ontario.

The government recently rejected calls for public consultation meetings in the North. Instead, it opted to hold two meetings — both of them in Toronto.

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[Boreal Forest Agreement] First Nations caught in ‘the big (land) squeeze’- Peggy Smith (Thunder Bay Chronicle-Journal-April 9, 2011)

The Thunder Bay Chronicle-Journal is the daily newspaper of Northwestern Ontario. This letter to the editor was originally published on April 9, 2011. 

Conservation has become a new form of development and
colonization that further restricts and ignores First
Nation rights to land and a way of life.
(Peggy Smith-Thunder Bay)

I have to disagree with Stephen Kakfwi (Boreal Forest Agreement: It’s Time to Forgive and Move Forward). First Nations in the boreal region of Northern Ontario are not in control of their lands.

The Province of Ontario has long ignored the treaties that First Nations signed over 100 years ago. Those treaties (Robinson-Huron, Robinson-Superior, Treaty 3, Treaty 5 and Treaty 9) were, in First Nations’ view, about sharing lands and resources.

While colonizers got rich on extracting resources from First Nation lands, First Nations were excluded from those benefits and spiralled into poverty and alienation from their lands — up until recently First Nations were not even allowed to cut firewood on Crown land without a permit. Even on federally-owned reserves, historically First Nations had to ask the Minister of Indian Affairs for permission to cut green wood.

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Cutting through the fog [Aboriginal, Industry and Environment Relations]- (Thunder Bay Chronicle-Journal editorial – April 10, 2011)

The Thunder Bay Chronicle-Journal is the daily newspaper of Northwestern Ontario. This editorial was originally published on April 10, 2011. 

AS the chasm of trust between Aboriginals and the rest of Canada widens, every effort to shrink it deserves encouragement. Two such initiatives have surfaced, and while one remains in play, the other has been batted away.

For decades, relations between conservation groups and the forest industry have been poisoned. Greenpeace banners hung from pulp mill smokestacks vividly portrayed an absence of will and trust.

So when 21 forest companies and nine environmental organizations quietly came up with the Canadian Boreal Forest Agreement last year there was cause for celebration. The pact would regulate forest management practices across 72 million hectares of boreal forest and protect 29 million hectares from development.

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Animosity builds over Ontario forestry legislation – by Ian Ross

Established in 1980, Northern Ontario Business  provides Canadians and international investors with relevant, current and insightful editorial content and business news information about Ontario’s vibrant and resource-rich North. Ian Ross is the editor of Northern Ontario Business ianross@nob.on.ca and this article was posted April 2011.

Hearings on Bill 151 will be held in Toronto, April 11 and 13. These are the final hearings before the legislation goes to third reading. Community and industry rancor continues to build against the McGuinty government over the refusal to stage a final round of consultation meetings in Northern Ontario before a new forestry bill is passed into law.

Hearings on Bill 151 – Ontario’s Forest Tenure Modernization Act — will be held in Toronto, April 11 and 13. These are the final hearings before the legislation goes to third reading.

During a March 30 government standing committee, Algoma-Manitoulin MPP Mike Brown kicked a hornet’s nest when he shot down a recommendation to stage hearings in Pembroke, Timmins, Thunder Bay and Sault Ste. Marie in favour of two days of hearings in Toronto.

The government said delegations from the North can appear in person or make their comments through video conferencing.

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EDITORIAL: Holding [Northern Ontario forestry] tenure hearings only in Toronto ludicrous, disrespectful – by Ron Grech (The Daily Press-April 5, 2011)

Ron Grech is a reporter for The Daily Press, the city of Timmins newspaper. Contact the writer at  
rgrech@thedailypress.ca

It is yet another show of disrespect and a slap in the face to Northern
residents. Is it any wonder that Northerners’ disdain for Queen’s Park
and the current provincial government is at a near-boiling point?
(Ron Grech-Daily Press, April 5, 2011)

After gaining the Ontario forest industries’ support on the prickly subject of tenure reform, the provincial government lost it again because of contentious wording in the draft legislation that passed second reading just over a month ago.

As it is currently worded, Bill 151 would empower the government to revoke a wood allocation if “the party holding the agreement, licence or commitment is not optimally using the forest resources.”

The industry is concerned that allocating forestry licences based on subjective interpretations of optimal or preferred use opens the door to political pressure.

Nonetheless, Ontario Liberal government seems intent on not only shooting itself in the foot, but severing it off altogether.

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Boreal Forest Agreement: It’s time to forgive and move forward – by Stephen Kakfwi (Thunder Bay Chronicle-Journal-April 4, 2011)

The Thunder Bay Chronicle-Journal  is the daily newspaper of Northwestern Ontario. This opinion piece was originally published on April 4, 2011.

Stephen Kakfwi is the former premier of the Northwest Territories and former president of the Dene Nation.

Nishnawbe Aski Nation Grand Chief Stan Beardy recently called for the termination of the Canadian Boreal Forest Agreement (NAN Targets Boreal Agreement, Chronicle-Journal, March 22). While I agree that the process to reach that agreement was flawed, and that the announcement could have been handled better, I believe it is time for collaboration, not conflict.

Finding a way to protect our land and ways of life is essential if we want to survive. As Aboriginal people, we are first and foremost survivors. Since Europeans first arrived here in 1492, Aboriginal peoples have had a near-death experience. The spread of epidemics decimated our population, the invaders took our land and diminished our natural resources.

Ever since, native peoples have fought hard to take back our land and regain control of our lives. We even fought and changed the Constitution of Canada so that we could govern ourselves.

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U of T’s forestry school faces the axe – by James Bradshaw (Globe and Mail-April 2, 2011)

The Globe and Mail is Canada’s national newspaper with the second largest broadsheet circulation in the country. It has enormous impact and influence on Canada’s political and business elite as well as the rest of the country’s print, radio and television media. 

After 104 years of seeing the forest for the trees, dwindling enrolment has left the future of the faculty of forestry at the University of Toronto in doubt.

It was Canada’s first forestry faculty, and North America’s second, but is now also one of the smallest, with a dozen faculty teaching fewer than 80 graduate students. For that reason, the administration has deemed it “not financially viable,” said dean Sandy Smith.

Canada has 10 per cent of the world’s remaining forest cover, and a quarter of its undisturbed frontier forest, but enrolment in forestry programs has dropped across the country, as well as outside it. In a 2009 survey of 65,000 graduating high school students, just six chose forestry as their preferred discipline.

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McGuinty’s Forestry Policies Lost in the Northern Ontario Woods – by David Robinson

Dave Robinson is an economist with the Institute for Northern Ontario Research at Laurentian University. robinson@laurentian.ca This column was originally published in the May, 2010 edition of Northern Ontario Business

The Growth Plan for Northern Ontario is based on a simple prediction. The majority of communities in Northern Ontario will continue to decline. Behind that prediction is an economic analysis that says the forests of Northern Ontario will provide fewer and fewer good jobs.

The analysis is convincing. The forest industry must cut costs to compete. There will be fewer mills. Mills will be more automated. Jobs will vanish. The wood industry is trying to respond. It has created organizations to develop new technologies, new products and new markets. FPInnovations, which was created in 2007, now claims to be “the world’s largest private not-for-profit forest-sector research institute.

” Wood WORKS!”, a program led by the Canadian Wood Council is campaigning to make wood the main building material for all types of construction.

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More Thoughts on Protecting Ontario’s Boreal Forests – by Marilyn Scales

Marilyn Scales - Canadian Mining JournalMarilyn Scales is a field editor for the Canadian Mining Journal, Canada’s first mining publication.

The decision by the Ontario government to protect its boreal forests north of the 51st parallel continues to be discussed by CMJ readers and environmentalists.

Predictably, leading North American academics support the plan. They praised protection of a “vital ecosystem”. They figuratively patted the Premier on the back for his “long-term vision, recognizing that storing carbon, protecting biodiversity, and traditional lifestyles and maintaining freshwater supplies are more important than immediate profits.” These people don’t depend on the mineral industry for their income, but I’m sure they all enjoy the myriad of consumer goods made possible by it.

Some CMJ readers were understandably upset at the provincial announcement. “Another North American jurisdiction that would rather have trees and swamps than jobs and wealth generated at a time when the manufacturing industry in Ontario is tanking,” wrote Vancouver’s Darin Wagner, president and CEO of West Timmins Mining . “This kind of announcement shows a complete and total lack of understanding of the minimal impact that exploration and mining have on the local environment. Yet another example of a politician jumping on the ‘global warming’ bandwagon to collect a few votes from the ‘urban greens’ at the expense of the resource communities which have been the backbone of his/her economy.

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