Quebec’s government is moving toward securing unbarred executive control over 8 million hectares of the province’s forests for the forestry industry’s industrial logging agenda. This legislation—Bill 97—pads the pockets of industrial logging companies, while bulldozing constitutional and humanitarian obligations to the Indigenous communities who steward much of the targeted land.
Bill 97 proposes splitting Quebec’s forests into a “triad” of zones: Conservation zones, which are protected from logging; multi-purpose zones, which incorporate both development and conservation; and ‘priority forest development zones.’ The third category gives the forest industry complete executive control of 30 per cent of Quebec’s forests, regardless of environmental damage or intrusion on Indigenous communities and cultural practices.
The bill was tabled on April 23 by Quebec’s Minister of Natural Resources and Forests Maïté Blanchette Vézina, but faces continued protest from Indigenous leaders for excluding Indigenous voices in the drafting process and for neglecting Indigenous rights.
Almost half the land allotted as a ‘development zone’ in Bill 97 is unceded Indigenous territory. Indigenous groups on unceded territory are granted right of Aboriginal Title and inherent rights to self-governance under the 1982 Constitution Act, as well as internationally-recognized protections under the United Nations Declaration on the Rights of Indigenous Peoples (UNDRIP). By appropriating this land, Bill 97 violates Canada’s most fundamental Indigenous land rights.
Given these constitutional and international guarantees, non-Indigenous entities such as governments or corporations must obtain approval before occupying or using unceded land over which Indigenous peoples have governing authority. Bill 97 unlawfully bypassed this obligation to acquire Indigenous consent by excluding Indigenous leaders in the drafting of the bill, and allotting unchecked power to industrial forestry projects in the designated ‘priority development’ zones. In these areas, opposition parties and environmental guidelines hold no legal authority to restrict intense logging activities—dismantling the rules of ecosystem management that previously governed activities in all of Quebec’s forests.
After the bill was tabled, representatives from the Assembly of First Nations Quebec-Labrador (AFNQL) sent a formal letter of rejection to Vézina, emphasizing that Indigenous priorities had been not simply ignored, but explicitly undermined in the final version of the bill. AFNQL Chief Francis Verreault-Paul added that Indigenous futures are “inextricably linked” to the territories this bill seeks to exploit, and that Bill 97 ignores Indigenous expertise while projecting irreversible damage to those territories.
Not only do the contents of Bill 97 allocate enormous portions of unceded Indigenous land to industrial deforestation, but its proposed commitment to consult and collaborate with Indigenous communities extends almost no substantial decision-making power to Indigenous leaders. Bill 97 promises to include an “Indigenous community consultation policy” regarding the extent and limits of land use, but this policy is to be drafted by the Minister of Natural Resources and Forests—not by Indigenous communities. Its stated aim may be “harmonizing” Indigenous activities with forest development plans, but harmony is an empty promise when only one party is allowed to sing its part.
Such blatant disregard for Indigenous authority, natural ecosystems, cultural specificity, and constitutional rights is criminal on its own, but when that disregard is coming directly from the government, it is truly unconscionable. Dozens of Indigenous groups have made it clear that Bill 97 is a threat to their most fundamental rights and to the basic sanctity of their homes. But instead of addressing these pleas with discussion, compromise, or—ideally—priority, the Quebec government has turned its back on Indigenous communities, choosing only to face them armed with tractors, saws, and bulldozers.
Vézina has paused discussion of the bill for the summer, while promising to make “significant amendments in collaboration with First Nations.” Though Vézina has agreed to informal discussion with AFNQL leaders, she has still not given them any formal role in the decision process. If Bill 97 gets passed, it will impoverish democracy in Quebec and stand as another instance in a long line of systematic environmental racism, marginalization, and disregard directed towards Indigenous communities.
