Seattle Post-Intelligencer

Weyerhaeuser profits from legal loophole

April 21, 2008

Canada's new logging frontier is Ontario, where vast swaths of boreal forest are under assault. One particularly violent section cuts across a 2,500-square-mile stretch in northwest Ontario that is home to the Grassy Narrows First Nation.

Twenty-eight hours by car from Toronto, the Grassy Narrows traditional territory is off the beaten track. Washington-based Weyerhaeuser Corp. has used that geographical remoteness as cover for business practices that most Americans condemn. Weyerhaeuser is the primary purchaser of wood from Grassy Narrows, where heavy logging violates the land and the human rights of its indigenous residents.

Canadian First Nations have a constitutional right to maintain their territories for traditional activities such as hunting and fishing. The provision is not merely a nicety: Many First Nations rely on these activities for food and cultural expression. Unfortunately, provincial laws that govern permitting for logging and mining companies have not kept pace with Canadian and international law, allowing companies to strip First Nations of their natural resources and force them into legal maneuverings few can afford.

As Weyerhaeuser conducts its annual shareholders meeting this week, it is important to remember that the company profits heavily from this legal loophole. Logging in Grassy Narrows, which supplies a Weyerhaeuser mill, has continued for nearly a decade since the community first sued to stop it.

Weyerhaeuser continued to buy wood from Grassy Narrows after the community established a peaceful blockade in 2002, which is still in place today. It continued to buy wood after Amnesty International issued a report last year concluding that logging in Grassy Narrows violates the community's human rights. Amnesty's report was enough to prompt Boise Inc., the other major U.S. buyer of Grassy Narrows wood, to commit to suspending its logging contract for the area unless community consent can be established.

Weyerhaeuser continues to buy wood from Grassy Narrows to build Quadrant Homes throughout the Puget Sound region even now that the Ontario provincial government has intervened, appointing a former Supreme Court justice to negotiate a solution to the community's predicament. In fact, community members report that logging has accelerated since they began negotiations. Weyerhaeuser seems intent on collecting every splinter of wood it can before its activities in Grassy Narrows are officially deemed illegal.

Nor is Weyerhaeuser's exploitation of the Grassy Narrows people the only example of its rapacious forestry. The company is appealing a court ruling requiring it to stop logging the old-growth forests that provide habitat to the endangered spotted owl. Weyerhaeuser could bring itself in line with modern consumer values without significantly jeopardizing its bottom line. Standards developed by the Forest Stewardship Council include protections for sensitive habitat and old-growth forests and strong restrictions on clearcut logging. The FSC also requires the free, prior and informed consent of indigenous communities before resources on their traditional lands can be extracted.

Clearcutting the boreal forest over the objections of First Nations is as shortsighted as it is barbaric. After all, the boreal is not just the longstanding home of Grassy Narrows and other indigenous peoples; it is also the largest terrestrial carbon storehouse on Earth — a fact not to be overlooked in this age of global climate change. American consumers increasingly are demanding an end to such irresponsible business practices, and it's time for Weyerhaeuser to heed their call.

Brant Olson is director of the Old Growth Campaign for Rainforest Action Network.