e IWA-CANADA’s National second vice-president Fred Miron said workers will
be covered by a form of whistle blower protection.

IWA and Ontario government
greet OFIA practices code

The major companies logging in the
forests of Ontario have signed up to a
new Code of Forest Practices, devel-
oped by a task force which included
input from IWA-CANADA.

On February 18, at the annual gen-
eral meeting of the Ontario Forest
Industries Association (OFIA), a new
foundation of Guiding Principles and
Code of Forest Practices was unani-
mously adopted by the member com-
panies which are responsible for prac-
tically all of the forestry activity in the
province.

The Code of Forest Practices was
developed by an independent task
force of 12 members established in

1992 which includes IWA-CANADA’s
National Second Vice-President Fred
Miron, and representatives from
industry and the aboriginal, environ-
ment, and academic communities.

Brother Miron says the new Code is
a “recognition of the importance of
the forest environment from all
aspects” and says it is a document
that IWA members must know about.

The Code sets out general guide-
lines for many different areas of the
industry. They include the following:
policy and planning; forest manage-
ment (road access, operations, regen-
eration and tending and timber pro-
tection); environmental protection,
human resources; public participa-
tion; accountability to the public; and
implementation and monitoring of the
code.

Ted Boswell, President of E.B.
Eddy Forest Products Ltd., which has
several IWA-CANADA certified wood-
Jands operations, said the members of
the OFIA support the new code unani-
mously and are committed to its
implementation.

He said the code “demonstrates the
commitment of this industry to sus-
tainable development of the forest.”

Boswell also said the task force has
achieved a goal of developing a code
that is “progressive and forward
thinking.”

“When people read this document, I
think they will see the commitment of

an industry to responsible forest man-
agement.”

John Naysmith, Director of Lake-
head University’s School of Forestry
and a member of the task force said
the code demonstrates “an industry
sensitivity for the intrinsic value of
the forest and for other resource
users.”

“Tt is a breakthrough for the indus-
try, which is saying that it will take sil-
vicultural preparations that maintain
in addition to timber values, other val-
ues of the forest environment.”

In a further comment, David Neave,
the Executive Director of Wildlife
Habitat Canada, said “the code recog-
nizes that government limited regula-
tory ability to establish more than
minimum standards.”

He also added that the code demon-
strates the industry’s “accepting a
stronger role in maintaining the forest
ecosystem.”

Brother Miron said the code is evi-
dence that the industry is changing
along with public values. He said the
code’s provisions are consistent with
IWA-CANADA’s national forest policy,
which he submitted to fellow task
force members for their considera-
tion.

Miron says that IWA bushworkers
are “already doing a lot of the things
in this code.”

“This code will further provide
them (IWA members) with meaningful
participation out on their worksites
and ensure that they can respond
effectively to the public with a sense
of pride in their work.”

Brother Miron points to one partic-
ular section of the code with pride.
Under the Human Resources section
of the code it is specified that “Mem-
ber companies will: encourage
employees to report activities that are
contrary to this Code of Forest Prac-
tices, while ensuring that no one is
penalized for reporting.”

“This is a form of whistle blower
protection which is essential,” says
Miron. “Say if an employee is building
a road and then comes upon an

eagle’s nest - he can shut the opera-
tion down without penalty until a
proper solution is found.”

Brother Miron also points to the
code’s provisions on operations man-
agement. The code says that member
companies will arrange harvesting in
a manner which recognizes landscape
and watershed attributes, wildlife
habitat requirements and the con-
cerns of all users.

He says that these type of changes
are a major breakthrough. “Less than
five years ago we would have never
seen a document like this,” he says.
“Not only would we never have seen
it, but if they did want to develop one,
they (the forest industry) wouldn't
have asked for native, labour, or envi-
ronmental group participation. They
would have done it themselves and
said “here it is - this is what we're
going to do.”

The issue of monitoring what is

really a voluntary code is an impor-
tant one.

Brother Miron says the companies
will enforce the code upon them-
selves and all the contractors that
operate on their limits. He also says
that if companies don’t comply, they
will be booted out of the OFIA by their
peers.

Of course the OFIA recognizes that
government legislation must be
adhered to. The code lists 11 govern-
mental acts, 8 sets of provincial
forestry guidelines, 5 operations man-
uals, and 10 sets of exhibit manage-
ment guidelines that apply to bush
operations.

When the announcement was made
at the OFIA Annual Meeting in Febru-
ary, NDP Premier Bob Rae and Howie
Hampton, Minister of National
Resources, were present.

Brother Miron said the new code
fell upon “receptive ears in the gov-
ernment.”

Ministry and police out to ©
stop wood hauling fraud

There is been a big scam operating
in the north eastern woods of Ontario
which may have ripped off millions of
dollars from tax payers. Following a
two year investigation the Ontario
Ministry of Natural Resources and the
Ontario Provincial Police say some
companies have been cutting crown
timber and are being charged for
defrauding the government of royal-
ties that they should have been paying
for timber.

By looking at mill records and tak-
ing undercover action, police and min-
istry investigators have seen non-
union loggers taking truckloads of
timber past government weigh scales
nner stumpage revenue is calculat-
ed.

Furthermore, some of the trucks
have carried their logs into the
province of Quebec where they have
been chipped for pulp and paper.

In mid-March Ray Duguay, Staff
Sergeant with the Ontario’s Provincial
Police in North Bay told the Globe
and Mail newspaper that “We feel that
there is a short fall to the government
in the royalty payments in the millions
of dollars.”

In the Kirkland Lake area there is a
lot of logging activity on crown and
private land. About 1.1 million cubic
meters of Ontario’s 17 million cubic
meter annual harvest was cut in the
Kirkland Lake area in 1992.

Whether the timber comes from
crown land or private lands is more
difficult to verify in this area.

In other parts of the province where
trees are harvested on crown land, a
system of Forest Management Agree-
ments (FMA’s) ensures that wood is
scaled and all revenue paid to the
crown.

Fred Miron, Second National Vice-
President of IWA-CANADA says that
the smaller provincial cut licences
outside the FMA’s are a serious prob-
lem and that the non-union owner
operators in those areas should be
intensely scrutinized.

Brother Miron also says that abuse
of the scaling system also puts unfair
pressure on the union.

“We hear the cry (from employers)
all the time that union wages are out
of line,” he says. “How in the hell are
union operations supposed to com-
pete against operations that get wood
for free?”

Norm Rivard President of IWA-
CANADA, Local 1-2995, whose jurisdic-
tion covers northeastern Ontario, says
that “we were telling them (The Min-
istry of National Resources) that there
was a helluva lot of wood going to
Quebec and we were asking them

why.”

Until recently the government said
little even though IWA people knew
trucks were going across the border.

“On top of stealing wood from man-
ufacturing operations in Ontario,
these people have been shafting the
taxpayer,” says Brother Rivard.

He also says that the implication of
such illegal activity could mean that it
is more widespread outside of FMA’s.”

“Wherever there is no FMA this can
happen,” says Rivard.

“How can we manage the forest in a
sustainable way when we don’t know
what’s been taken out of it,” he adds.

Ontario’s millworkers
and taxpayers may
have been cheated of
millions of dollars of
stolen timber

Brother Miron says that these types
of activities would not take place in
union agreements.

“We would make damned sure that
all wood cut goes to scale,” he says. @

Miron also says that the union is’
going to follow-up and put more pres-
sure on the Ministry of National
Resources to ensure that these illegal
activities do not continue.

Under small district cutting licenses
on crown lands the Ontario govern-
ment ensures that local mills have the
first opportunity to buy wood cut in
the province.

Brother Miron says that it is likely
that when the owner/operators are
taking the loads directly to Quebec
that Ontario mills don’t even have a
chance to bid on the wood.

In addition sending saw logs to
Quebec causes problems for Ontario
mills.

“We've been saying that the logs
should go into our sawmills in Ontario
and then we can send chips into Que-
bec,” says Miron. “But what is happen-
ing is that pulp mills in Quebec are
chipping our saw logs and, at the
same time, depressing chip prices
paid to Ontario sawmills.”

“The whole thing is a mess,” he
says, mentioning again that the IWA
will follow up the investigation. i

“The people who have done this
should not receive any more licenses
to harvest wood,” he adds. ‘Why
should we trust them again if they

have cheated the system?”

SS EEE

12/LUMBERWORKER/JUNE, 1993