Miner and News

Grassy Narrows steps up fight against Abitibi, Weyerhaeuser

March 1, 2006

Grassy Narrows band members are planning to take their fight against clearcutting to American boardrooms.

By Mike Aiken

Grassy Narrows band members are planning to take their fight against clearcutting to American boardrooms.

After three years of blocking logging roads near their community, members of the First Nation are enlisting the support of California environmentalists, who will lobby bankers and investors in an effort to save the boreal forest.

“It’s a warning,” said band member Joe Bill Fobister Tuesday.

“If they don’t start listening, we’re going to do what we say we’re going to do,” he added.

In a press release issued by the Rainforest Action Network of San Francisco, the chief executives of both Weyerhaeuser and Abitibi- Consolidated are told protests will go ahead focusing on their investors, consumers, bankers and business partners, if clearcutting continues.

Network spokesman David Sone said Tuesday they have convinced American giants such as Burger King and Home Depot to change their business practices after public pressure on environmental issues. “What’s happening here is typical of the way Weyerhaeuser approaches its ecological responsibility to the communities they operate in,” he said, adding he has visited the First Nation several times.

Aside from standards set by the Ministry of Natural Resources, Weyerhaeuser spokesman Bonny Skene noted the company is meeting international criteria set by the Canadian Standards Association and the International Organization for Standardization.

Abitibi spokesman Denis Leclerc added their efforts at negotiating a solution with the First Nation stalled in the fall of 2004 when the leadership asked for items beyond the company’s jurisdiction. These included recognition of their traditional land use area, financial compensation for past extraction, as well as a new deal for any new resource development.

Leclerc noted past offers from band council have included requests for jobs and involvement in the forestry operations in the area. Since the community’s last request, Leclerc said Abitibi has not had any invitations to negotiate with the federal or provincial government, including the province’s Northern Table discussions.

Last year, the Canadian Parks and Wilderness Society, a non-profit group dedicated to the protection of wilderness areas, concluded current harvesting level cannot be sustained for even 20 years, and harvest levels are too high to protect existing wildlife habitat.

On its website, the Rainforest Action Network has a section dedicated to Grassy Narrows, where it encourages readers not to buy products from old growth forests. In his comments, Sone added he wasn’t satisfied with regulations established by the Ministry of Natural Resources because they don’t do enough to protect endangered species and the rights of First Nations. Government officials disagree.

MNR spokesman Shawn Stevenson noted the Crown Lands Sustainability Act, which regulates forestry in the Whiskey Jack, includes a detailed and separate process for consultations with aboriginal communities. Stevenson added the only endangered species within the forest are eagles and caribou, and he said logging has been deferred in critical areas.

Grassy Narrows band members aren’t content to simply wait for action. They’re planning to take their cause directly to Weyerhaeuser’s annual general meeting near Seattle, which is set for April.

If all goes well, one of the community members will be elected to the multi-national’s board of directors, so the band will have a voice, Sone said.

Weyerhaeuser says it has sales of $22.6 billion in 19 countries, where it employs 54,000. By contrast, Grassy Narrows lists 1,237 members, about 800 living on-reserve, which is about an hour’s drive north of Kenora.