Forest Caucus Report

A Newsletter of the Canadian Environmental Network Forest Caucus

Voices of the Boreal Review – WFC side event
Susanne McCrea, The Boreal Forest Network

The “Voices of the Boreal,” TRN forum, was born of the desire to get some “real’ voices of the boreal heard. TRN member groups realized, some time before the event, that if ENGOs didn’t organize side events to the WFC these regions and people would have no voice there. The forum succeeded in drawing attention to that fact.

Two of the Grassy Narrows, Ontario, blockade organizers, acting Deputy Chief Steve Fobister and Joe Fobister told a heartfelt story about their struggle to regain control over their traditional lands. They proved their sense of humour was still intact with their at times very entertaining delivery. Members of the audience were visibly moved by their presentation. We heard horror stories about illegal logging in Estonia and Russia from Hando Hain of the Estonian Green Movement-FoE and Shura Dubynin of the Russian group, Sibecocenter. In short, we heard stories from some people and places that most people don’t hear much about. We did hear that these environmentalists are working, under very difficult conditions to determine the extent and types of illegal logging. Problems exist because of falsified documents, undetermined ownership of forested lands and outright forest theft.

Activists later took over the press conference held late in the conference by Abitibi Consolidated to let them know that the story told by Abitibi didn’t match up with what they’d heard from Steve and Joe Fobister. They called on the media to contact Joe Fobister directly and get his opinion of the situation. The logging practices of the paper giant have caused much devastation of Grassy Narrows traditional lands where members erected a blockade a year ago, December 3rd. Abitibi has since put an offer on the table for the consideration of Grassy Narrows. Steve Fobister says “It’s too soon to predict an outcome.” The offer will be taken back to the community for consideration and consultation. Fobister says the blockade will stay in place until the issue if resolved.

TRN organizer, Danielle Peloquin, was pleased with the event.

“Overall, it was a great opportunity to allow the WFC audience a glimpse of what’s really going on in the less talked about regions of the Boreal. I was really impressed by how it went and that we had standing room only,” Peloquin said.

Thanks to the Taiga Rescue Network for a job well done.