The Chronicle Herald (Provincial)
Stand up to China
If China’s government wants to know who’s responsible for recent international condemnations of its actions, it just needs to look in the mirror.
Unfortunately, the Chinese Communist Party shows no signs it intends to drop attempts to bully others into silence.
Kudos, then, to Canadian parliamentarians for overwhelmingly passing a Conservative motion in Ottawa on Monday that declares China is committing genocide through its persecution of the Uighurs, and other Muslim minorities, in its western Xinjiang region.
Sadly, Prime Minister Justin Trudeau and his cabinet, except for Foreign Affairs Minister Marc Garneau, skipped the vote. Garneau abstained, saying he did so on behalf of the government.
International human rights groups say there are numerous, credible reports that China has detained up to a million Uighurs and subjected them to abuse, including political indoctrination, forced labour, sexual violence and involuntary sterilization.
China routinely lashes out at such critics, denying its actions are genocide and accusing other nations of meddling in its domestic affairs. It did so Tuesday, accusing Canada of ignoring “facts” and of maligning the Asian nation.
But if China has nothing to hide, why does its government not allow an independent investigation of the allegations? Why does it routinely interfere with foreign media attempts to investigate what’s happening in Xinjiang?
History shows that genocide — the attempt to eradicate a culture or people — can never be considered an internal affair.
The week before, China had berated Canada for joining the U.S. and 56 other nations in signing an international declaration against state-sponsored arbitrary detention of foreign citizens for political purposes, so-called hostage diplomacy.
In Canada’s case, the statement was clearly tied to China’s unconscionable detention of Canadians Michael Kovrig and Michael Spavor — the two Michaels — who were arrested by China more than two years ago on widely-perceived trumped-up allegations of espionage.
Those arrests came, not coincidentally, after Chinese Huawei executive Meng Wanzhou was detained in Canada on an American extradition request.
China’s boldfaced claims the two events are not connected are clearly untrue. Chinese government officials have, more than once, explicitly linked progress on freeing Kovrig and Spavor to Meng’s release.
The men have languished in Chinese custody for more than 800 days awaiting trial. Canadian consular access to the pair has been irregular.
Earlier this week, new U.S. President Joe Biden called for Kovrig and Spavor’s release after a bilateral meeting with Trudeau, saying “human beings are not bartering chips.”
That’s exactly what they appear to be to China.
All of which — along with China’s reneging on its deal with Britain to not impose a socialist government in Hong Kong until 2047 — makes former Nova Scotia premier Stephen Mcneil’s recent prochina comments particularly cringeworthy.
In late January, Mcneil told a Canada-china business group that “it’s not our role to go in and tell someone else they’re wrong.”
We understand that the then premier was talking about building business ties with China, which has been extremely important to the Atlantic region’s economy in recent years.
We’d argue, however, there must be limits to biting your tongue.
Saturday morning, like many others, I woke up looking to enjoy another Nova Scotian winter day. The snow was falling; it was a near pictureperfect. I was optimistic about the day as I planned to spend time outside with my family.
My excitement quickly soured when I checked my emails to find a friend had shared yet another column taking shots at Nova Scotia’s forest industry. As a person who makes his living in forestry, it is so frustrating to be bombarded with articles that are badly misinformed. The Chronicle Herald has taken to publishing many stories against the forest industry, often written by the same anti-forestry naysayers.
Back to the Feb. 20 column by Ralph Surette that ruined my mood. He makes many claims without providing any context, and in some cases seems to be trying to mislead the readers altogether.
The following are just a few of the erroneous claims the author made that I’d like to reply to:
1. “there it was: the clearcutting juggernaut busting through in some of the last proper forest on Crown land in Nova Scotia, just west of the Tobeatic game sanctuary and upriver from her Tusket River home.”
Surette’s goal here is to make people believe that the blockades that occurred near Weymouth, were protesting the very last stand of trees in all of the province. This is simply not true. In Digby County, where these protests took place, there are 229,000 acres of protected Crown land. That equates to 74 per cent of all the Crown lands in Digby County being protected. Never to be harvested, operated, developed, or see any kind of forestry operations. That is fantastic.
Some of these lands belong to the Tobeatic wilderness reserve. Some belong to the list of lands recently added to the protected lands list by our local MLA and former environment minister, Gordon Wilson. This means there are 58,500 hectares, or 26 per cent of the Crown lands in Digby County that are available for all other uses — such as forestry, hunting, all-terrain-vehicles, etc.
Yes, some of it will be harvested, but in accordance with some of the strictest forestry rules in all of North America, which require that annual allowable cuts never be exceeded and countless buffers for watercourses and other ecological goals be applied.
To insinuate that a small patch of less than 250 acres is somehow the last proper forest on Crown lands in Nova Scotia is fear-mongering at its finest or at its worst.
2. “Remember a year ago when the Northern Pulp mill was closing, and the sawmills
that sold it their surplus wood were predicting disaster? The opposite has happened. The sawmills are roaring with activity — thanks mainly to the price of lumber going through the roof. Selling the surplus in the form of chips has been no big problem, either — thanks mainly to the questionable business of burning wood for electricity being ramped up, here and overseas.”
Has it been a year already since the closure of Northern Pulp? Phew, it does not seem that long ago. I guess I have been too preoccupied for the last 12 months trying to survive a global pandemic.
For some reason, Surette suggests that those of us who rely on the forest industry for our livelihoods should feel badly about being busy as we try to survive the closure of an integral piece of the industry and a global pandemic. That we should feel badly that our employees still have work or that the products we make have seen a surge in demand at a time when people needed their homes to protect them. Shouldn’t we as a province be happy that there are still portions of our economy roaring with activity?
Surette is right: the timing of the closure of Northern Pulp and the surge in demand has saved operations from closure, but as we all know, what goes up must come down. Everyone in the forest industry knows there will be a downside to this current positive cycle and we are all trying to brace for it and the possibility of a future without Northern Pulp.
But that is not even the part that bothers me most about Surette’s comments. At a time when countless people lost
their jobs, when the tourism and service industries have suffered so much, he chooses to take shots at one of the industries that has been a bright light in our province — in most cases not only keeping people employed but adding new employees. This, to me, is something to be grateful for and celebrated as we all work together to rebuild the economy after the pandemic.
3. “the clearcutting has never been more intense than it is right now, especially in the western lands which is where most of the good wood remains, the east having been laid waste” and “The biggest cutter is Westfor, a consortium of 13 Nova Scotia mills. Northern Pulp was also given a big chunk, which it’s cutting and selling off although its mill is closed.”
Although there are other statements made in the article that could be refuted, for the sake of brevity, I will end my rebuttal with these final two. The assertion that the nonprotected western Crown lands managed by Westfor are being “clearcut” is categorically false. Harvest levels throughout the province are at historical lows. Since the Lahey report, we have been working diligently to implement interim forest management guidelines that are in lockstep with the anticipated permanent guidelines that will come when the report is implemented.
Just this past week, Westfor and its shareholder sawmills all publicly endorsed the complete implementation of the Lahey report and its 45 recommendations.
I want to thank Surette for acknowledging the Nova Scotia mills who make up the
Westfor consortium. Unfortunately, the number of active mills is down to 10. Of these remaining 10, six are familyowned companies whose history spans generations, and that, in most cases, are the backbones of their respective communities.
Surette seems to express surprise and disappointment that Northern Pulp’s allocation is still, in part, being harvested. For years, industry members have been telling politicians, journalists and those at the local Tim’s that Northern Pulp’s role in harvesting and supplying logs to mills was equal to, if not more important, than its appetite for our byproducts. You see, our mill and many others received the sawlogs from Northern Pulp’s forestry operations, ensuring the highest value was received from every bit of wood harvested. This is good stewardship.
The continued harvesting of Northern Pulp’s allocation, even at a lower volume from western Crown lands, is so that mills like mine can continue to have logs to operate, so that we can make the products and byproducts that people want. There is no surprise here and certainly no shame.
Undoubtedly, plenty of people will scoff at my views. Some might seek me or my family out on social media just to tell me how horrible a person I am. But to those of you read this article with an open mind, I am not asking for you to take everything I say as gospel; I understand you may have questions, and that is fair. If so, check out Westfor’s website; the team will be happy to answer questions
and tell folks about what they do.
Furthermore, in the coming months, Westfor will be releasing more and more information so that openminded Nova Scotians can educate themselves and develop informed opinions about Crown lands and forestry.
To those of you who work in the forest industry and who get discouraged by the naysayers and the anti-everything crowd, stay strong, keep working hard and, most importantly, stay safe.
It is with great hesitation that I write this response.
I fear harassment on social media. I fear the abuse that my children might be exposed to, but there comes a time when one must stand up for what they believe, even in the face of potential abuse.
I write this now for two reasons: 1) to refute the comments in the previously mentioned article and 2) to thank all Nova Scotians. On behalf of the 10,000 or so Nova Scotians who, in one way or another, rely on Crown lands to make a living, thank you for letting us buy fibre from our government so we can make a living that allows us to stay home and be with our families at night. Thank you for buying our products to build your homes, heat them and expand your decks. By doing this, you not only support your neighbours, you support the production of renewable and sustainable products made in Nova Scotia.