The forestry is very…

The forestry is very important for me as I have been living in an extraordinary environment since I was born. My father was working in the bush. He was cutting trees and also planting trees. With his work, he was able to bring us food, clothes, education and much more. Now being married, my husband is a truck driver, transporting woodchips and logs to different mills in the region. Same for him, he can bring food, clothes and so on. Our hobbies are mostly camping, fishing, hunting. We enjoy being surrounded by the forest. We respect it and take good care of it as it is part of our life. We own a house and hope we can count on it for a retiring revenue. We do not want to see mills being closed because they cannot have access to the forest anymore. I think we can do both, access the forest with respect and protect species at risk. Our community lives from the forest industries. If the mills have to close and jobs are lost, our house value will go down and same for everyone in our town. We will have to leave our town and lose all the privileges we had living near the forest.

Therefore, I am asking that the government provides a 5-year extension as a 2-year extension is not long enough to evaluate all the impacts of such a decision. I am not saying that we do not need to protect species at risk and their habitat, I am just asking that an independent panel is formed to develop a long-term approach that protects species and minimizes impacts to forestry industry. Our town will not survive if we do not take the time requested for such an impact analysis. I also strongly support the establishment of an independent Panel composed of people who understand the issue like municipality representation, First Nation, practitioners, etc. Policy needs to be developed by the people who are most impacted, informed by the most credible, fact based arguments.

I also ask government to make a final decision on this before March 30th.

Thanks for giving us the opportunity to speak.

[Original Comment ID: 212922]