AN American company's decision to stop using wood products from a northwestern Ontario forest involved in an aboriginal land claim is being hailed as a victory for aboriginals and environmentalists.
This week, Idaho Boise Inc. wrote a letter informing Montreal-based AbitibiBowater it will no longer buy wood fibre logged from the Whiskey Jack Forest, the site of a five-year blockade by Grassy Narrows First Nation, without the explicit consent of Grassy Narrows leaders.
"This is a major development for Grassy Narrows and for indigenous rights," said David Sone, a spokesman with the Rainforest Action Network, a San Francisco environmental ally of the First Nation.
Blockader Roberta Keesick told Canadian Press she welcomes the decision by the American pulp and paper company.
"We've been getting a lot of support from environmentalists and now these companies are backing us up... it's very powerful."
The plan was announced in a letter from Steven Earley, Boise's woodlands manager in International Falls, Minn., on the border near Fort Francis, Ont., where the Whiskey Jack Forest is located.
The letter states Boise made the decision Feb. 13 after reviewing an Amnesty International report on the Grassy Narrows land dispute that calls for a logging moratorium.
The letter leaves no doubt the wood products company was heavily influenced by both environmental factors and indigenous rights, as set out in the Amnesty report.
Boise's landmark decision comes four weeks before former Canadian Supreme Court judge Frank Iacobucci completes a long-awaited report on Grassy's claim to the forest.
Joe Fobister, one of Grassy's negotiators, said the First Nation's leaders have been advised to defer their comments on the Boise decision, at least until the report is released.
The Boise decision means aboriginal concerns are finally being heard, said Minaki cottage owners Rita and Wayne Hildahl.
"There has been a lot controversy about the logging in the Whiskey Jack," Wayne Hildahl said.
Concerns over clear-cutting triggered the blockade against logging, and lobbying drew support from environmentalists, other aboriginal people and cottagers.
Together, the groups formed a loose alliance to oppose clear-cutting and push for sustainable logging. It's been a long road without a lot of impact on the lumber industry, before the Boise decision this week.
"Until this moment, they haven't listened, and that was the biggest concern of the aboriginals. For the first time, people are starting to listen to the aboriginals and to the environmentalists," Hildahl said.
alexandra.paul@freepress.mb.ca
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