One of the biggest lumber companies in Ontario says it will not use wood from Grassy Narrows First Nation territory, just a week before a controversial new 10-year logging plan comes into effect.

EACOM Timber Corporation said Monday that it will avoid wood fibre from the reserve.

It owns six sawmills in the province.

David Sone, an environmentalist with Earthroots, called it a victory for the people of the reserve.

“If even logging companies are willing to respect Grassy Narrows’ right to say no to logging, then why won’t Ontario stop trying to force clearcuts on the community,” said Sone, adding that if companies don’t buy the wood, the plan is bound to fail.

The reserve and the province have been at loggerheads for years. The Whiskey Jack Forest Management Plan has been contentious. It plans for a decade of logging throughout their territory.

Grassy Narrows maintains that the province does not have the right to permit logging on its land north of the English River due to promises made by Canada in Treaty 3.

The community has held a blockade since 2002, the longest running native logging blockade in Canada.

An Ontario Court of Appeal decision in March 2013 said the province has the right to mine and log on treaty land, prompting the community to challenge it in the Supreme Court.

The Supreme Court will hear the case against Ontario on May 15.

A spokesperson for Ontario’s Ministry of Natural Resources said it is “awaiting a decision from the Ministry of the Environment regarding a request for an individual environmental assessment” before the plan goes into effect. The request is from the reserve.

The average area planned and available for harvesting in this plan is 0.6 per cent of the Whiskey Jack forest lands annually, said Jolanta Kowalski, the spokesperson.

She also said that no harvesting activity is planned within 60 kilometres of the reserve in 2014 and 2015.

At Grassy Narrows, all options are being exercised, Joseph Fobister, a spokesperson for chief Simon Fobister told the Star. “We are calling for boycotts, we are exploring our legal options and will maintain the blockade.”

Ontario’s logging plans will adversely impact forests in their community and worsen the mercury poisoning issues residents have been struggling with for decades, he said.

Logging in Grassy Narrows’ territory has been suspended since 2008 when Boise and AbitibiBowater (now Resolute) ceased sourcing wood from Grassy Narrows territory and surrendered their license on the Whiskey Jack Forest, said Sone.

Forty years ago, a nearby paper mill dumped mercury into the river system and the community says it is still struggling with its effects. Reports from experts showed that 60 per cent of Grassy Narrows Lake’s 160 residents tested in 2010 showed symptoms of mercury poisoning.