Owners of many 8.C. sawmills and pulpmilis have shown a chronic disregard for ee
pollution control standards legisiated to protect environmental health. The public
response io this criminal activity should be a greatly increased manacte to both monitor

Dollution sources, and punish those who would put profit before tie long-term health of

all those who musi share the B.C. environment.

3. Any forestry company either upgrading an old conversion plant, or constructing a new
Plant, would be required to file a plan outlining how workers laid-off due to use of new
technology wculd be retrained. These plans wouid utilize both company and government
retraining programs. Successful implementation of retraining plans would be
monitored by the Ministry of Forests.

Technological change in timber conversion plants has contributed to the lavoff of well
over 20,000 people in the B.C. forest industry over the last ten years. The forest
industry owes it to workers who made billions of doilars of profit possible to help
them retrain for employment in other industries.

4, Continued award of harvest tenures will be based on the degree to which timber is
manufactured in B.C. for high-value end products.

a . It is no longer acceptable to allow B.C. timber to be manutactured into relatively low
Pe! value lumber and raw pulp products. Incentives should be put in place which reward
forest industry corporations who institute value-added manufacturing techniques.

Devolution

1. The Ministry of Ferests will be given two years to come up with a range of proposals
describing ways and means by which management of forest resources would be
devolved to the control of local and regional governments in each T.S.A.

The purpose of timber harvests can no fonger be allowed to be strictly related to the

generation of corporate profit. The forest industry must be equally oriented to both

Stability of communities, and ecosystem sustainability. The only way fo insure that .

this basic change in the forest industry structure will be achieved is by devolving

control of forest managemeni to local and regional governments. This process would
include signing of a ‘devolutionary contract’ laying out basic parameters by whicn . |
communities must manage local forest resources. These parameters would be drafted to

guarantse local responsibility to maintain prudent forest harvests within local
ecological limits.

| oe oe 2. The governments of Canada and British Columbia shall immediately enter into
negotiations with hereditary Chiefs of the First Nations to evolve a sustainable forest
management strategy for forests located on tribal lands.

The inability of the governments of British Columbia and Canada to negotiate the issues
of aboriginal rights and title is crippling the forest economy of many regions of B.C.
This situation is intolerable and must be rectified immediately.