David Eby
VICTORIA — A First Nations leader says the BC government wants amendments that propose a “gutting” of its own reconciliation legislation. Robert Phillips, a member of the political executive of the First Nations Summit, says the First Nations Leadership Council has received and reviewed changes the province wants to make to the Declaration on the Rights of Indigenous Peoples Act, or DRIPA. Phillips said the details of the proposed changes are confidential for now. “But at this point, it’s pretty much almost gutting DRIPA out,” Phillips said of the proposed amendments. …The BC government said that it is asking the Supreme Court of Canada to hear an appeal of the landmark court ruling that found the province’s mineral claims regime were “inconsistent” with the law, while it would also be proposing amendments to the DRPIA Legislation in the coming session of the legislature.
Efforts to support forestry workers displaced by the closure of the Crofton pulp mill and the ongoing curtailment at the Chemainus sawmill are expanding, as local leaders press the federal government for clearer and more robust income supports. The District of North Cowichan says its Mill Closure Response Working Group met for the first time last week, bringing together municipal, provincial and federal representatives, along with labour, industry and impacted workers, to coordinate next steps. …“The stories we heard at the first working group meeting show how urgent this is,” North Cowichan Mayor Rob Douglas said. “This is why we’re continuing to press the federal government to extend employment insurance supports for all impacted workers and to release the forestry industry support funding announced last summer. People need income security while they plan their next steps.” Updates and resources for affected workers and businesses are available at 
The national head of the union representing workers at the Crofton pulp mill is not in favour of efforts to have a special task force formed locally to investigate the reasons for the troubles in the forest industry. Geoff Dawe is the president of the Public and Private Workers of Canada which represents more than 400 workers at the Crofton pulp mill, which will soon close permanently. He spoke to North Cowichan’s council at its meeting on Jan. 21 about a proposed motion by Coun. Tek Manhas for the municipality to set up the special task force that, if approved, would undertake an investigation into the reasons for the closure of the Crofton mill and the ongoing curtailment of the Chemainus sawmill, impacting another approximately 150 workers. …Dawe said his concern is that a task force that is not working collaboratively with his union and its workers may get into some finger pointing at government…
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BC NDP Forests Minister Ravi Parmar avoided the usual political pledges to accept recommendations from the latest in-depth analysis of the province’s troubled forest industry. The NDP government’s appointed experts, the Provincial Forest Advisory Committee, tabled their findings on February 2 after a six-month review of an industry that is moving from decline to collapse. …Parmar took the NDP’s familiar path, rather than address the sweeping recommendations to restructure the entire forest land base… he said the mill closures that are devastating communities across the province are mostly Donald Trump’s fault. …The 
Forest harvesting events will be analyzed at an upcoming event at Maple Ridge’s UBC Research Forest. The event titled “Not-So-Clear-Cut: Rethinking How We Harvest Forests” is coming up on Feb. 21, in two sessions from 10 a.m. to 3 p.m. at the Malcolm Knapp Research Forest. Participants are invited to join Dr. Suzanne Simard, a professor and the author of Finding the Mother Tree, and Hélène Marcoux, director and forester at the Malcolm Knapp Research Forest, for a two-hour guided walk along hiking trails through the forest. As part of ongoing research exploring alternatives to clear-cuts, attendees can discover how tree retention forestry supports soil carbon and ecosystem resilience – all while exploring the challenges and trade-offs of logging in a living ecosystem.
The Provincial Forest Advisory Committee’s (PFAC) 
…the IISAAK OLAM Foundation, which promotes the establishment of Indigenous protected conservation areas … hosted the Estuary to Old Growth Gathering in Parksville, bringing together representatives from Nuu-chah-nulth, Coast Salish, Kwakwaka’wakw and Haida nations. …Concurrently, the B.C. Natural Resources Forum launched its “Forestry is a Solution” campaign in Prince George on Jan. 20. This push seeks support for the logging and manufacturing sector, stressing the need to “speed up access to economic wood by expediting permits and approvals”. Many of the industry’s leading associations are backing this campaign. “The coalition is asking British Columbians to voice their support for the workers and families that depend on forestry,” stated the B.C. Council of Forest Industries. …Not surprisingly, a Feb. 2 report from the Provincial Forestry Advisory Council stated that the days of “abundant access to low-cost fibre” are over. The report was presented as “a call to fundamentally reimagine our relationship with the land.”
Several programs have been suspended at North Island College, but before the decision came down, students and alumni made their displeasure known outside Koumox Hall in two different rallies. …The Ministry of Post Secondary Education sent out a provincial mandate for schools to review all programs last June after federal policy changes regarding the reduction of international student visas issued. The ministry projected it could lead to a province-wide negative annual revenue impact of a $300 million deficit. 15 programs are being considered for suspension including Coastal Forestry Certificate, Coastal Forestry Diploma, and Furniture Design and Joinery Certificate.
Reducing wolves to protect endangered caribou doesn’t always deliver the expected results—and the shape of the land may be the deciding factor. That’s according to 
A forest advisory council has recommended shifting BC’s forest regime towards more local decision-making. The plan has received applause from forestry groups, the BC Greens and the head of the BC First Nations Forestry Council. But some experts warn the plan lacks teeth and risks putting fragile forest ecosystems at risk. …“I think of this like the cod fishery,” said Garry Merkel, a forester and co-chair of the advisory council, at the report’s launch event Monday. Merkel likened B.C.’s crisis to the fishery collapse on Canada’s East Coast. …BC First Nations Forestry Council’s Lennard Joe said he supports efforts to bring forest decision-making closer to people it affects. …But UBC forest management professor Peter Wood noted that the report made little mention of the province’s Old Growth Strategic Review. …Rachel Holt, a conservation ecologist worries that the council’s recommendations stop short of changes that are required to protect key ecosystems.
Forests Minister Ravi Parmer hosted the high-profile first National Wildfire Symposium in Vancouver and wildfire risk featured prominently at the 23rd B.C. Natural Resources Forum in Prince George. Dialogue at the symposium made it clear that wildfire is a coast-to-coast-to-coast challenge. It has stretched the resources of all provinces and territories. …But what if there is a way for our provincial government to more effectively spend available dollars to maintain wildfire suppression, improve prevention capabilities and support beneficial fires as an essential ecological function, while at the same time becoming better at identifying cross-government areas for new investments to improve wildfire resilience? This is the focus of a new report being published by the 
The attorney general of BC has decided to take over any potential prosecutions of those arrested for violating an injunction prohibiting people from blocking roads in an area of the Walbran Valley. Forestry company Tsawak-qin Forestry Limited Partnership, which has rights to log in the area where protesters have set up blockades, asked the attorney general to take over the proceedings, and to determine if there is enough evidence to charge those arrested with criminal contempt. Those arrested have faced civil contempt of court charges for alleged breaches of the injunction. …Lawyer Noah Ross, who represents Bill Jones, a Pacheedaht First Nation elder who opposes the logging, said, “By being willing to step in and fund the prosecution, they make it effectively cheaper for the logging company”. …The decision means it’s now up to the BC Prosecution Service to determine what charges, if any, it will approve against those arrested.
Victoria, B.C. – A new independent report from the Provincial Forestry Advisory Council (PFAC) finds that British Columbia’s current forest management system is failing to meet a range needs, including communities, First Nations, businesses and the environment. The report concludes that small, incremental reforms are not enough to address the scale of challenges facing the sector. Titled 
VANCOUVER — A government-commissioned review of forestry in British Columbia is calling for the system to be razed and rebuilt with a focus on trust and transparency about the state of the province’s forests, shifting away “from managing harvest volumes to managing lands.” …The authors of the report, including industry representatives and academics, pitch a model that would change who makes decisions about lumber allotment, taking that power away from the provincial government and shifting it to regional bodies that manage defined areas. …Shannon Janzen a co-chair of the advisory council, and former chief forester, said the use of area-based land management is not a new idea and is already in use in places like Ontario and Alberta. …Forest Minister Ravi Parmar would not commit to implementing the report’s recommendations, telling reporters that he has to consult with other ministries. …A statement from the BC Council of Forest Industries said it would be reviewing the recommendations with its members. …Brian Menzies, the executive director of the Independent Wood Processors Association of B.C., said there’s little detail in the report about how its members would access more fibre.
A First Nations-owned company west of Williams Lake says continued funding is essential for projects that use fire-killed wood instead of burning it in slash piles or leaving it to decay. Percy Guichon and Daniel Persson with Central Chilcotin Rehabilitation Ltd. (CCR) attended a Jan. 27 regular city council meeting in Williams Lake to provide an update on the Palmer Project, a multi-year Indigenous-led stewardship initiative which aims to reduce wildfire risk and improve public safety and forest health through spacing treatments that remove hazardous fuels. To date, the project located along Palmer Lake Road, about one and a half hour west of Williams Lake, has treated more than 1,500 hectares with recovered fibre utilized by Atlantic Power for biomass and Cariboo Pulp & Paper for pulp. Fibre was also previously utilized by Drax, which closed in Williams Lake by the end of 2025, into fibre pellets for bioenergy.
Residents of a Bonnington, 18 km west of Nelson, hope they can rely on B.C. Timber Sales’ assurances that logging in their watershed will reduce wildfire risk and won’t threaten their water supply. For nearly a year, BCTS has engaged in an elaborate communication process with the residents of Bonnington about its plans for the Falls Creek watershed. The agency has a timber license on Crown land in the watershed, which provides drinking water to the rural community of about 600 people. …BCTS plans and designs logging operations, builds logging roads, then sells the timber to the highest bidder. The B.C. government added wildfire mitigation to the BCTS mandate last year. In the spring of 2025, the province hired Cathy Scott-May, a communications consultant, to steer a communication process along with BCTS professional forester Mark Tallman of Nelson. …Tallman said this consultation process is different from anything BCTS has done in the past…