Representatives of the Assembly of First Nations Quebec-Labrador urged a provincial legislature committee on Tuesday to abandon a forestry reform bill that would reserve large swaths of the province’s forests for logging. AFNQL Chief Francis Verreault-Paul and three other leaders called on the government to work with them to develop a new bill from scratch because they say Bill 97 does not respect First Nations’ ancestral rights. The proposed legislation would divide the province’s public forest land into three zones: conservation zones, multi-purpose zones and forest development zones where the forestry industry is prioritized. Lucien Wabanonik, chief of the Anishnabe council of Lac Simon, said the idea of handing over a third of forests to industry is a non-starter in the eyes of First Nations. “We want to collaborate. But…
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