The Grassy Narrows First Nation sent a letter containing the ultimatum after a decade of failed efforts to reach an agreement with the companies.¶
The group’s appeal includes an appeal for help from the international environmental and human rights community.¶
A report by the Canadian Parks and Wilderness Society says Abitibi, which supplies wood fibre to Weyerhaeuser, logged almost half the remaining endangered woodland caribou habitat in Grassy Narrows between 1999 and 2004, as well as regularly clear-cutting large tracts of land.¶
The companies have plans to continue logging operations in the region until 2009, and have applied for permission to log up to 2024.¶
Nearly half of the logged wood is destined for Weyerhaeuser’s Trus Joist/Timberstrand division and will end up in building products within American houses.¶
The First Nation group claims unsustainable logging has polluted rivers and prevented it from carrying out its way of life, including hunting.¶
¶
