I urge you to support Canada…

I urge you to support Canada’s commitment to sustainable forest management which is defined as “management that maintains and enhances the long-term health of forest ecosystems for the benefit of all living things” by our 2020 Biodiversity Goals and Targets for Canada. This draft Strategy fails our commitment in numerous significant ways:

- by implying that logging can double in output without negative impacts
- no overall benefits will be granted to species at risk
- forest access roads will increase in number and permanence, which will directly increase road mortality and hunting/trapping pressure on wildlife already impacted by habitat fragmentation
- by promoting our forests as reservoirs of material that should be cut down to replace plastics as single use products

Your draft Forest Sector Strategy benefits only one species -- ours -- at the expense of countless other species. If you want to earn us the reputation of responsible forest managers, you need to end logging in old-growth forests that support biodiversity and uphold protections for species at risk. It's crucial to note that our existing forestry practices are already negatively impacting fragile ecosystems and wildlife, making it irresponsible to suggest that doubling the annual wood cut is good for Ontario.

It is more crucial than ever to create a Forest Sector Strategy that will result in forest ecosystem resilience, which will ultimately make our economy stronger and help us tackle climate change.