i

tay ia Ranccurer hearing of the Parliamentary Standing Committee on Natural Resources were union presenters. Left to right were Local 2171 Presi-
lent Darrel Wong, National Director of Environment and Public Policy Kim Pollock, National Secretary-Treasurer Terry Smith and Local 2171 Execu-
tive Board member Darol Smith. Absent from photo was local 1-425 officer Terry Tate.

[.W.A. CANADA requests federal assistance

The I.W.A. National Office and
Locals 2171 and 1-425 made official
presentations to the House of Com-
mons Standing Committee on Nat-
ural Resources and Government
yacretions in Vancouver on May

Prior to holding three days of
hearings the committee, which con-
sists of a majority of federal Liber-
als, along with MP’s from the Reform
Party, NDP and Bloc Quebecois,

went to logging and other forestry
operations in the Cariboo and Cen-
tral Coast Regions of the province to
meet with the people who live and
work in forest-dependent communi-
ties.

As the federal government has
jurisdiction over international trade,
the union followed up on it request
made in January of this year, that
there be federal efforts to help mar-
ket Canadian forest products around

the world.

The union renewed its request
that the federal government should
contribute to efforts at increasing
access to international markets and
fight damaging boycott campaigns
by radical environmentalists. (See
story below for submission from
national union).

“We’re, in a very large way, the
people who have put our lives and
our job and our communities at risk

(during land-use reviews and reform
and adopting new forest practices)
not because we wanted to see that
happen but because that’s the only
way forward,” “said Kim Pollock,
Director of Environment and Public
Policy.

“Today we are here because we
need a little bit of help (in market-
ing Canadian forest products) and
we think the federal government
can deliver.”

Submission

to House of

Commons Committee

On behalf of the thousands of Cana-

dians who get their living from our
forests, we thank the committee
members for their continued interest
in forest-sector issues and for taking
the time to come to British Columbia
to learn first-hand about what’s hap-
pening on the land here.

As you have seen, the forest indus-
try actually operates on a fairly small
portion of a vast landscape. But on
that area, we manage to generate an
immense portion of the wealth and
employment opportunities available
to people here, particularly in the
hundred or so communities that
depend on the forests.

ut 60 percent of British Colum-
bia’s export earnings come from the
forests and about 275,000 jobs depend
directly or indirectly on the wealth
generated by the forest sector. Some
communities are even more highly
forest-sector dependent than that: in
Williams Lake, which you visited, for
instance, 45 percent of total basic
factor income is derived from forestry,
while timber harvesting in the Mid-
Coast Timber Supply Area, which
you have also seen, generates about
3,350 jobs.

That helps to explain why Indus-
trial, Wood and Allied Workers of
Canada members and others in the
industry are so strongly convinced of
the need for a sustainable forest
industry. In the words of our national
forest policy, our ultimate goal is “to

duce useful products for human-
ity while ensuring the long-term sus-
tainability of forests and providing
safe, secure opportunities in the for-
est sector for current and future gen-
erations.”

This commitment is not an easy
path. It has meant, for instance,
many long, tortuous hours spent in
land-use planning processes, strug-
gling to find a workable compromise
among a wide range of views and
issues.It has meant learning new
ways to do jobs that are often already

~ complex and dangerous. It has meant

the way we work and adopt-

_ ing to new work rules and different

E of: izing our working lives.
6 Local BTL notes in its own

‘report to this committee, for instance,

“today’s logger lives like a gypsy, on
a float camp moving from place to
place because of the smaller open-
ings in the forest...dictated by the
Forest Practices Code. The reality is
that workers have made some real
sacrifices in favour of practicing sus-
tainable forestry.”

We have made these sacrifices,
however, because we know that our
future demands them. We know that
even though we cannot reduce our
impact on the land to zero, for
instance, that we must strive to
reduce it in the interests of healthier
forested ecosystems. Our overseas
customers and the general public
insist on better protection of fish
streams, respect for biodiversity,
maintenance of forest soils, more
protected areas and special manage-
ment zones and other measures to
ensure that forests continue to thrive
for the long haul, not just short-term
profits.

At the same time, we know that
there must be a balance between our
environmental concerns and our eco-
nomic and social needs. This explains
I.W.A. Canada members support for
measures such as the B.C. Forest
Practices Code; the Protected Areas
Strategy and the ongoing Timber
Supply Review Process, as well as
our participation in the Commission
on Resources and Environment and
other land-use planning exercises.

The land-use plans, for example,
have not been fun or easy. Some-
times, particularly in West Kootenay
and on Vancouver Island, the out-
come has meant real pain, loss and
dislocation for workers, their fami-
lies and their communities. But we
also know that this is the only real
way forward. Land-use plans provide
every sector of a region and a com-
munity an opportunity to state their
case and make their claim in the
only forum that really counts: the
democratic “court” of people who are
mutually affected by the planOs own
outcome. You have now seen the
results in the Cariboo-Chilcotin
region and you now know that the
planning process can work. We hope

‘ou will advise conservation groups
that they should participate in these

“made-in-B.C.” processes by setting
aside their boycott campaigns and
slick fund-raising activities, and
rolling up their sleeves and getting
down to business.

At the same time, however, the
workers and communities, a few of
whom you have now seen first-hand,
need your help. I.W.A. CANADA
urges the committee to help ensure a
vibrant, secure future for our indus-
try, our communities and our fami-
lies who depend on the forest sector
for their living.

Even though the federal-provincial
division of powers rules out direct
federal involvement in the manage-
ment of our lands and forests, Ottawa
still has an important role to play in
helping us continue to produce use-
ful products and make a strong con-
tribution to Canada.

For instance, the federal govern-
ment’s jurisdiction over interna-
tional trade makes it a key player in
helping to secure markets for our
products. This includes:

° efforts to improve market pene-
tration and market access, to ensure
that our products enjoy secure access
to existing markets and that they
can reach new markets;

° efforts to inform the world of the
great strides we are making in forest
management and forest practices
and to help offset the misleading
campaigns and boycotts waged by
powerful international preservation-
ist groups;

° efforts to overcome non-tariff
barriers to trade, such as the pine
nematode regulations in Europe or
building and construction code barri-
ers in Japan and other Asian coun-
tries.

° assistance in developing and
implementing certified standards
for forest management and forest
practices that will help Canadian
producers in an increasingly envi-
ronmentally-aware international
marketplace.

As well, the federal government’s
responsibility for science and tech-
nology means that it is well placed to
assist with:

the need for research into new
technologies that will help generate
or improve our products, allowing us
to reach or cultivate new markets. A
good example is the Zairi Lumber
Partnership that is doing work to
increase the marketability of Coastal
hemlock products;

¢ constant efforts to increase for-
est yields, for instance through inten-

sive silviculture, fertilization and
new ways to obtain earlier and
greater volume from forest stands;

e development of new products
and new processes that will help us
produce and market a new genera-
tion of high-value products from
wood;

° efforts to show the environmen-
tal and structural benefits of a renew-
able, green resource, wood, as opposed
to non-renewable substitutes that
use up more energy and deplete the
world’s stock of resources.

In the area of human resources
and training, the federal government
can also help workers and communi-
ties to adjust to a rapidly changing
world. There is an urgent and con-
stant need, for instance, for labour
adjustment programs, training and
retraining: the world is changing and
LW.A. CANADA members know that
if they do not change with it, it will
change without them. This includes
general skills upgrading, literacy,
basic numeracy and computer skills
and as well as advanced training in
new industrial processes and technol-
ogy. Often, for instance, young people
grow up in forest-based communities
with a vast, first-hand knowledge of
logging or woodworking: the post-sec-
ondary educational system should be
working to encourage and assist them
to develop and enhance that knowl-
edge, then turn it back to their peo-
ple and communities.

As these examples indicate, the
federal government can and should
play an increasing role in our forest
sector. The federal government can.
serve as an international advocate
for our constantly improving forest
management standards.

It can help to deflate the most out-
rageous and unfounded claims of
overzealous environmental groups.
It can help in the development and
implementation of new technologies,
products and processes. It can help
identify and reach new markets for
existing and potential forest prod-
ucts. It can help train and retrain
workers and young people for jobs in
an expanding and changing forest
sector.

We strongly believe that the forests
are the future, not just for I.W.A.
CANADA members, their families
and their communities, but in a very
real way for Canada as a nation. We
hope the committee shares our view,
as well as our commitment to make
this future real by working to build a
stronger, more vibrant forest sector.

d — LUMBERWORKERJJUNE, 1999/13