Region Archives: Canada East

People questioning Premier Iain Rankin’s commitment to the environment stepped up measures on Tuesday with protests at Lands and Forestry offices across the province and rallies in several communities.  Sit-ins happened at 11 Lands and Forestry offices from Tusket to Sydney, as well as the premier’s office in Halifax and Lands and Forestry Minister Chuck Porter’s constituency office in Windsor.  The protests came a day after Liberal MLAs approved major changes advanced by Rankin to his Biodiversity Act and on what marked the 23rd day of a hunger strike by protester Jacob Fillmore, who has been calling for a temporary moratorium on clear cutting until the substantive elements of the Lahey review on forestry practices are in place.  ….Like others at the rally, Fillmore said he’s not feeling good about the government’s level of commitment to the environment right now.

Jeff Bishop

A key player behind the forestry industry’s successful campaign to strip the Rankin government’s Biodiversity Act of its enforcement power is keeping his seat on a provincial body that provides advice on environmental issues.  Jeff Bishop, executive director of Forest Nova Scotia, was one of 12 people named Tuesday to the roundtable on environment and sustainable prosperity. Appointed by the minister of environment, the group “advises on sustainable prosperity in Nova Scotia and conducts a review of the Environmental Goals and Sustainability Prosperity Act every five years.”  …NDP MLA Claudia Chender raised concerns about Bishop’s appointment, given the campaign Forest Nova Scotia recently organized to change the Biodiversity Act. “He’s not representing the full diversity of that forestry industry,” she told members of the standing committee on human resources, which reviews and ratifies ministerial appointments.

A young Halifax man who had been on hunger strike for 23 days to protest clearcutting on Crown land ended his fast Tuesday but his activism spawned sit-ins at government offices across the province that led to a couple of arrests. “This fight is far from over,” Jacob Fillmore, 25, told a crowd of more than 100 outside Province House in announcing the end to his hunger strike. “As I take a step back, others are stepping up and sitting down.” Fillmore said over the noon hour Tuesday that people were staging sit-ins at Premier Iain Rankin’s office… and as many as 13 Lands and Forestry offices across the province. …At the end of his colossal fast, Fillmore said… “My mental state has also deteriorated, I’m more forgetful and it takes me longer to form thoughts”. [A subscription may be required to access the full story]

The Ontario Woodlot Association (OWA) and the Board of the Eastern Ontario Model Forest (EOMF), agreed to begin a process to merge, with the intent of preserving the programs of the EOMF within a new combined legacy that will also help to reduce administration costs and duplication. Both organizations realized that it is now timely to make these changes, with a wonderful opportunity to optimize our collective value and further improve woodlands stewardship in Ontario. There is no doubt that the merger of our collective products and services will bring benefit to all of our members and Chapters. The recent retirement of the EOMF’s Jim Hendry and the imminent departure of Astrid Nielsen, General Manager of EOMF have contributed to the desire to move forward with this exciting venture. In the interim,  John Pineau will take on the role of Executive Director for both organizations.

A national conservation organization has joined calls for the local government to take measures to prevent deforestation in Chatham-Kent, which has one of the lowest percentages of tree cover in Ontario. Ian Fife, the Ontario forest birds program co-ordinator for Birds Canada, recently wrote a letter to council encouraging a “strong” forest conservation bylaw. The letter from the Norfolk County-based non-profit organization was included on the March 22 council agenda, but no action was taken. As a forester and a biologist, Fife said he is aware of the lack of forest cover in Chatham-Kent and had noticed more pressure being put on the mayor and council from locals to address this issue. …The species Birds Canada is most concerned about “are interior forest birds, which means they need a woodlot or a forest that’s at least 100 metres from the edge in order to occupy an area,” Fife said.

Iain Rankin

HALIFAX — Changes that would eliminate more than half of a 20-page bill aimed at protecting Nova Scotia’s biodiversity are being defended by Premier Iain Rankin. Proposed changes to the Biodiversity Act, tabled Monday before the legislature’s law amendments committee remove whole sections dealing with enforcement and emergency orders and also change the scope of the bill, limiting its provisions to Crown land. Rankin said the bill is being revamped because private landowners, who control about 70 per cent of the province’s lands, weren’t comfortable with the legislation. Rankin rejected claims that the bill had been weakened to satisfy landowners, saying the changes are about building trust. …Rankin said he believes most private owners will work with the government voluntarily. …But Karen McKendry, of the Halifax-based Ecology Action Centre, said the campaign to essentially stop the legislation was “gut-wrenching.”

Pat and Peter Spicer

SPENCER’S ISLAND – Peter Spicer doesn’t consider himself, or others in the forest industry, to be evil people intent on clear-cutting Nova Scotia’s forests. Spicer operates Seven Gulches Forest Products… However, he is worried about their futures if the province fails to make changes to the Biodiversity Act, introduced to the legislature earlier this month. He is pleased Premier Iain Rankin has announced revisions to the controversial legislation, taking some of the pressure off private landowners. … “The biggest concern we have (with the legislation) is the punitive nature… It appears to me the people supporting the act are very anti-forestry and anti-industry,” said Spicer, who has 1,600 acres of woodland, most of which is still fully forested. …Spicer said landowners have to protect themselves from losing control of their land, which is why many like him opposed the legislation and its reference to a biodiversity emergency that he considered very vague and poorly defined.

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Jacob Fillmore is fed up with the Liberal government ignoring him and his call for a moratorium on clearcutting on Crown land.  “I was lied to, that much is quite obvious” Fillmore, who was on Day 17 of his hunger strike Wednesday, said of a promised then aborted meeting with Chuck Porter, minister of lands and forestry. … Fillmore has been on a hunger strike to back his demand for a moratorium on clearcutting on Crown land until the long-promised forestry reforms recommended in the Lahey report are implemented. “I would have asked him what the holdup is on declaring a moratorium and asked him if that is not something he could do, then what is,” Fillmore, a 25-year-old Haligonian, said…

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Additional Coverage by CBC News: Clear cutting protester feels duped after N.S. forestry minister skips meetup

Iain Rankin

The Nova Scotia government will amend the Biodiversity Act in the face of an aggressive lobbying campaign launched against the bill by a group of private landowners and forestry industry representatives. Bill 4 was introduced… to do right by the environment and implement the recommendations of the Lahey review on forestry practices. But the legislation MLAs will ultimately vote on will look different than what Lands and Forestry Minister Chuck Porter tabled on March 11. The changes will remove biodiversity emergency orders, which would grant the province the right to intervene on private land in emergency situations where the act was being contravened. Offences and fines… are also being removed from the act. The government said the bill will only apply to Crown land, unless a private landowner wants to be included. …Forest Nova Scotia, a lobby group for industry, is responsible for the [lobbying] campaign.

Something very serious and dangerous has been going on in Nova Scotia, and it has nothing to do with COVID.  …What is dangerous is the all-out, no-holds-barred, province-wide — and very expensive — propaganda war against the Biodiversity Act that has been waged by Forest Nova Scotia, the lobby group for some very large industrial forestry interests, and a so-called “coalition” of “concerned private landowners.”  Not even two weeks after the Bill was introduced, Premier Rankin’s office and the Department of Lands and Forestry caved to the pressure. Late Tuesday afternoon they announced changes to the Bill 4 that “remove biodiversity emergency orders, offences and fines from the act, and limit the scope to Crown lands unless permission is given on private lands.” …The scale and speed of the intoxication campaign has been breathtaking. …The fear-mongering campaign even had its own “message track.”

Jacob Fillmore moved his 16-day hunger strike from the gates of Province House to the Lands and Forestry office Tuesday. The 25-year-old Haligonian took part in a noon-hour rally in front of Province House to support his hunger strike and demands that the Liberal government place a moratorium on clearcutting on Crown lands until the long-promised forestry reforms recommended in the Lahey report are implemented. Chuck Porter, minister of lands and forestry, has reportedly agreed to meet with Fillmore on Wednesday. Dorene Bernard, a Mi’kmaq grassroots grandmother… told the crowd of about 100 … that she admired Fillmore’s commitment.  …Fillmore said, “I can assure them that I will not sit around and wait to die. …We don’t have forests to waste.  On Friday, I delivered a letter to the minister asking for him to meet with me.” Fillmore had vowed to stay at the lands and forestry office until the minister arranged a time to meet with him.

CHARLOTTETOWN, PE — The Honourable Jonathan Wilkinson, Minister of Environment and Climate Change and Minister responsible for Parks Canada, and the Honourable Lawrence MacAulay, Minister of Veterans Affairs and Member of Parliament for Cardigan, announced that the Government of Canada has purchased a 405-acre property in Greenwich, Prince Edward Island. The property is adjacent to Prince Edward Island National Park at Greenwich and will be added to the park. This land contains a forest, wetlands and coastal dunes that are home to many species at risk and rare species, such as the Piping Plover, the Yellow-banded Bumble Bee and the Little Brown Myotis (bat). Among the most spectacular natural characteristics to be protected at this site in Greenwich are the unusually large and mobile parabolic dunes with their associated counter ridges or Gegenwälle.

A moving and interactive exhibition offers a “different, authentic and feminine view” into how women have contributed to society opens next weekend at the Train Station Museum in Temiscaming, Quebec. …“Women of Paper offers a female perspective on a predominantly male industry. Through interactive modules and digital devices, we look at the place held by women in Quebec’s paper and forestry industry during the second half of the 20th century.” The exhibition is part of the Temiscaming’s 100th anniversary celebration this year. …The exhibition includes screenings of poignant testimonies brimming with anecdotes, as well as various interactive stations. …“From the papermaker’s daughter to the site nurse, these paper women will lead them to their findings,” it states. “Sometimes, they will make the visitors laugh, but above all, they will be a reminder of how far they have come.”

A man in the second week of a hunger strike is calling on a provincial government in Canada to halt logging, amid growing fears that clearcutting the country’s eastern forests could prove devastating for endangered species. Jacob Fillmore, a 25-year-old activist in the province of Nova Scotia, has survived on broth and water for 12 days, camping outside the province’s legislative assembly to raise awareness over the destruction of old-growth forest. “I recognise that a hunger strike is quite an extreme measure to take to get my message heard, but I think it’s time for extreme measures,” Fillmore told the Guardian. “We really don’t have any time to lose.” …Support for Fillmore’s protest also speaks to a broader frustration across Canada over the continued harvest of old-growth forests – despite warnings from ecologists that the ageing trees represent a valuable tool in the fight against climate change.

The Asian Long-Horned Beetle is 30 millimetres long, antenna to posterior, and resembles a larger cousin of the Sawyer Beetle which many Canadians are familiar with. …The insect originated in China and Korea and is thought to have migrated to Canada and the United States likely via shipping materials accompanying imported goods. The holes Asian Long-Horned beetles leave in our trees, often Norway Maples, are nearly the diameter of a 10 cent coin… The tree will eventually die because the insect’s boring destroys its ability to conduct water in its trunk. Dr. Amanda Roe, a scientist at the Great Lakes Forestry Centre in Sault Ste. Marie, presented a paper on Tracing the Asian Long-Horned Beetle through genomics, to the Natural Resources Canada, Forest Pest Management Forum. She is using genetics to predict how the beetle got to Canada… from its native range, or through secondary spread from the USA or Europe.

Iain Rankin

There is still no word on how Nova Scotia plans to implement a key recommendation from the Lahey report that would see Crown land designated into zones, as advocates express frustration over a lack of answers and action from the government. …The general manager of WestFor, a management consortium for a group of sawmills, said industry members are keenly awaiting details about where those zones will be located. …As work continues toward that process, a growing number of people are calling for a moratorium on all clear cutting until the Lahey guidelines are in place. Zwicker said reducing cutting to the extent people are advocating for would cause the industry to grind to a halt and create a shortage of forestry products. The premier has [said] the public will see meaningful progress this year, but so far the idea of a temporary moratorium on clear cutting has not been considered.

Dozens of frustrated Nova Scotians rallied outside the provincial legislature on Tuesday, blocking access to the government building as they urged lawmakers to place a moratorium on clearcutting Crown land.  Three protesters halted traffic on Hollis Street, standing in the middle of the road with a sign reading, “Sustainable forestry jobs now,” until they were removed by Halifax Regional Police. No arrests were made.  “We need bold action now,” said protest leader Jacob Fillmore, who has been outside Province House on a hunger strike for the cause since March 8.  “The provincial government itself has said as much, I am demanding they act in a way that reflects what they have said.”  The demonstration is one of several in recent months spurred by clear-cut logging in the habitat of Nova Scotia’s endangered mainland moose.

Nova Scotia’s Lands and Forestry minister tabled a revised Biodiversity Act on Thursday, a version he hopes won’t raise the ire of private landowners this time around. Chuck Porter said the bill he introduced includes many of the same provisions as the one that died on the order paper last fall. It also applies to public and private lands, but includes changes to address key concerns identified during consultation. Most notably, the government will require consent of private landowners before including their property in a biodiversity management zone. The zones are intended to help support conservation or sustainable use of specific biodiversity values, such as bird breeding habitat or areas where edible plants grow in the wild. Porter told reporters it was important to the government that this be a collaborative effort. 

A focus on mainland moose and the wooded areas they inhabit put Lands and Forestry department officials on the defensive Wednesday. “Management of our Crown lands and the protection of our species at risk are at the core of what our department does,” said the department’s new deputy minister, Paul LaFleche, in his opening remarks for a legislative public accounts committee meeting. …LaFleche said he has already met twice with William Lahey, author of the report, and said he and Chuck Porter, the department minister, “have a mandate from the premier to implement” it. That mandate, a commitment Premier Iain Rankin referenced in the throne speech delivered Tuesday to open the House session, is to implement the report by year’s end. The government has not committed to an interim harvesting moratorium of any kind. Public consultation on a draft of a new forest management guide was requested in January and the completed guide is still in the works.

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Forestry protestors who were arrested in December are claiming victory this week after a Nova Scotia Supreme Court judge’s decision, but the company involved in the matter says the judge made the right call. Justice Kevin Coady granted an injunction barring further blockades at two logging sites in Digby County, but did not limit protestors from attending other sites on Crown land in the area. “I feel it is a victory,” said Sandra Phinney. …While protestors say they are happy they are not being banned from other logging sites, Westfor is pleased with the judge’s ruling. “The judge found that laws must be followed,” said Westfor Management general manager Marcus Zwicker. “The families that depend on forestry have a right to earn a living and the protestors’ illegal blockades were stopping people from going to work.”

Lumber is a lucrative industry to be in right now – depending on which part of the business you’re in. …River Ryan Lumber & Firewood produce rough lumber, often used for sheds, decks and picnic tables. Michelle Gatza, office manager said their orders have gone “through the roof” since the onset of the pandemic. …”We purchased another sawmill to keep up with lumber orders.” …Port Hawkesbury Paper (PHP) reported that they’re also doing well these days. …Private land owners and contractors in Cape Breton, however, aren’t seeing that demand translated into more money for them. The closure of Northern Pulp has meant that there’s few places buying low-value pulpwood, said Todd Burgess, forestry outreach co-ordinator with Forest Nova Scotia. …The Post spoke to local landowners about their experiences: John MacDonald and Angus MacDonald.  

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