Forestry

We have an obligation to make sure that our forests are managed in a sustainable way, so that the resource will be here for our people for the next seven generations and beyond.

Gespe’gewa’gi covers over 53,000 square kilometres, of which 71% is Crown land.  Within this area are some of the richest forest resources and greatest logging capacity in all of Canada.  

• the forestry and wood-related industry in Québec provides approx. 67,000 jobs.  This comes to shipments and revenues in excess of $21,000,000 annually,
    
• the Québec government allocates on average 2.8 million m3 of timber each year to forestry companies working in the district of Gespe’gewa’gi, 
    
• of the above allocation, our three communities receive only approximately 0.5% of the total of timber allocations that the Québec government hands out each year,
  
• more than 250 municipalities within Québec depend principally on the forests for their economic survival. Many of these are within Gespe’gewa’gi, but very few of our Mi’gmaq people actually work in the forestry sector (see below),
      
• in Gespe’gewa’gi, forestry and logging account for 15% of non Mi’gmaq employment (4,100) jobs. But, there are currently only 47 Mi’gmaq working in the forestry within our territory. That represents only 0.8% of all forestry workers, or ONE Mi’gmaq worker for every 87 non-Mi’gmaq workers.
  
• To stimulate forestry investment and exploitation, Québec has introduced a range of measures aimed at encouraging investments, including advantageous tax laws,
    
• Québec offers specialized financial assistance measures providing support for feasibility studies and business plans produced by forestry industry promoters and companies,
    
• Non-refundable financial assistance equivalent to 50% of the cost of the study, up to a maximum of $50,000 per investment project, is available to developers who conduct feasibility studies about  specific wood processing components and products.

Québec recognizes how much profit there is in exploiting the forest resource, including in Gespe’gewa’gi.  Yet, there is a great difference in the number of jobs our people have within the vast forestry industry, as compared to non-Mi’gmaq workers.   And we not receiving our fair compensation from forestry projects on our territory.

We require consultation with Québec so that more of our people can share in the forest resources of our territory in an equal way.  We seek to be accommodated for the use of our woodlands by others.