Osoyoos, British Columbia — September 21–22, 2026
Every industry has its acronyms. Few, however, land quite like the one the Independent Lumber Manufacturers’ Association (ILMA) has chosen for its 2026 Annual Convention: WTF — Where’s The Fibre?
It’s a cheeky title for a serious question. Fibre availability — the raw material that keeps sawmills running, communities employed, and Canada’s forest sector competitive — has become one of the defining challenges facing the industry. ILMA’s answer is to lean into the tension rather than tiptoe around it, gathering the people who can actually do something about the problem for two days of conversation, deal-making, and, yes, a little golf.
A Premier Gathering, By Design
The ILMA Annual Convention has built a reputation as one of Canada’s premier forestry networking events, and this year’s edition returns to Spirit Ridge Resort in Osoyoos, located on the traditional territory of the Osoyoos Indian Band. The event is proudly presented by Doane Grant Thornton LLP.
Unlike sprawling trade shows designed to maximize foot traffic, ILMA’s convention is intentionally curated — bringing together company owners and senior executives from across the sector alongside government representatives, First Nations leaders, suppliers, consultants, and forestry professionals. The two-day executive-focused format is built to maximize brand visibility, direct access to leadership, and genuine relationship-building, rather than diluting those conversations across a larger crowd.
Past conventions have drawn participation from the Minister of Forests, senior ministry officials, and ILMA’s own Board leadership — a track record that reinforces the convention’s role as a credible, connected voice for the industry when it talks to government.
Two Days, Two Different Gears
Monday, September 21 is built for reconnection. The day kicks off with arrivals and a nine-hole golf tournament — intentionally structured, ILMA notes, for relationship-building rather than serious competition. From there, delegates move into a rooftop welcome reception and the opening of the trade show floor, with sponsor recognition and informal networking rounding out the evening. It’s a day designed less for keynotes and more for the kind of hallway conversations that actually move business forward.
Tuesday, September 22 shifts into the full conference program. The day opens with breakfast and moves through keynote presentations, government updates, and expert panel discussions, followed by a luncheon keynote and continued access to the trade show. An interactive town hall and audience Q&A give delegates a direct line to the speakers and policymakers in the room — not just a chance to listen, but to push back and ask the hard questions. The day closes with the Convention Banquet Dinner, an evening keynote speaker, and entertainment.
The Conversations That Matter
Behind the tongue-in-cheek theme is a genuinely substantive program. Sessions will dig into fibre availability and long-term timber supply, active forest management, wildfire mitigation and forest resilience, government policy and regulatory direction, First Nations partnerships and leadership, and lessons learned from other jurisdictions grappling with similar pressures. Innovation and practical solutions round out the agenda — a deliberate signal that this convention isn’t just interested in cataloguing problems.
That’s the real ambition behind the theme: rather than dwelling on today’s constraints, organizers want the program to answer a forward-looking question — where do we go from here? The goal, as ILMA puts it, is for every delegate to leave with new ideas, valuable connections, and a renewed sense of optimism about the future of Canada’s forest industry.
Who Should Show Up
The convention is pitched squarely at the people who shape the industry’s direction: executives, forestry contractors, consultants, suppliers, government representatives, and partners. Whether the goal is closing a deal, understanding where policy is heading, or simply hearing how peers across the province are navigating the fibre crunch, the format is built to deliver those conversations efficiently — over two days, in one place, without the noise of a larger event.
ILMA is welcoming delegates back to Osoyoos this September for a convention that doesn’t shy away from a hard question — it just asks it with a wink.
See the full convention program here.
Registration and conference information is available at www.ilma.com/convention