First Nations and local mills band together to secure forestry future
NANAIMO — After more than a year of discussions, paper and pulp companies in British Columbia have an improved way of accessing fibre for processing.
A memorandum of understanding (MOU) between the companies, including local pulp mill Harmac, Catalyst Paper, Paper Excellence Canada, Zellstoff Celgar Ltd. Partnership and the First Nation Forestry Council was signed to better facilitate trade and negotiations for the mills.
Since companies such as Harmac don’t own any forests to cultivate their product, Harmac fibre manager Cameron Milne said the MOU gives them a chance to secure their stock while also giving First Nations band a say in how their forests are used.
“It’s taken us some time to put this together and now we’re anxious to move to the next stage and actually start talking about some of the details to see how we can work together with the First Nations groups,” he said.