May 15, 2025

VICTORIA – Members of the newly formed Provincial Forest Advisory Council are tasked with providing recommendations to government on advancing forest stewardship, while supporting communities and workers that rely on forests.

Under the Cooperation and Responsible Government Accord 2025, the B.C. government and BC Green caucus have established the Provincial Forest Advisory Council. The council will provide recommendations to government to ensure there are clear and measurable outcomes that support a healthy forests, healthy ecosystems and a healthy forestry sector.

“With boots on the ground visiting communities throughout B.C., I’ve met workers, businesses and partnered with First Nations,” said Ravi Parmar, Minister of Forests. “I have seen what forestry means to them. It means good-paying jobs that support families and communities, all while protecting our biodiversity.”

The council will consult with industry partners, such as the Provincial Forestry Forum and ecological, environmental and biodiversity experts, to engage the public for feedback and honour commitments to work in partnership with First Nations. This community-driven approach will ensure the review is inclusive and focused on land-base certainty and sustainability.

“Forestry has always been a key part of B.C.’s economy, but its future depends on sustainability and long-term ecological stewardship,” said Rob Botterell, house leader for the BC Greens and MLA for North Saanich and the Islands. “This council presents an opportunity to advance bold, transformative and evidence-based actions that centre the health of our forests, support workers and communities, and ensure forest policy in B.C. is grounded in sustainability, science, and partnership with First Nations.”

The council brings together forestry sector leaders that have been jointly appointed by the BC NDP and Green caucuses. The council members are:

• co-chair – Garry Merkel, director, Centre of Indigenous Land Stewardship, faculty of forestry, University of British Columbia (UBC)
• co-chair – Shannon Janzen, former vice-president and chief forester, Western Forest Products
• Norah White, deputy chief forester, B.C. government
• Jason Fisher, executive director, Forest Enhancement Society of BC
• Jeff Bromley, chairperson, United Steelworkers Wood Council
• Harry Nelson, associate professor, faculty of forestry, UBC
• Hugh Scorah, postdoctoral fellow, UBC
• Al Gorley, retired professional forester and former president, Professional Foresters Association
• Laurie Kremsater, professional forester, biologist, researcher and educator

“Our best way to get ahead of this quickly evolving political, economic and ecological environment is by implementing a long-term, ecosystem-based plan that provides a stable, predictable and reliable flow of forest resources,” Merkel said. “When we couple sustainable land stewardship with realizing most of the value of our forest resources within British Columbia, we support an economy that relies less on this unstable external environment. The council will focus on major actions that will build on existing work and outreach to move as quickly as possible to realize this long-term vision.”

The council will provide an interim report to the B.C. government and Green caucus this fall, with a final report expected by the end of 2025.

Learn More:

To read the agreement, visit:
https://news.gov.bc.ca/files/Agreement%20in%20Principle.pdf

To read the terms of reference, visit:
https://www2.gov.bc.ca/assets/download/C90007FBD33F4EB5A93C4EE3C5B9F8F7

A backgrounder with council members’ biographies follows.

Contact:

Ministry of Forests
Media Relations
Forest.Media@gov.bc.ca
250 380-8491

BACKGROUNDER

The members of the Provincial Forest Advisory Council are reputable, subject-matter experts. They all have the skills and insight needed to advance stewardship of B.C.’s forests.

All committee members were jointly appointed by the Minister of Forests and the BC Green Caucus. You can read about each committee member below.

Co-chair:
Garry Merkel – Centre of Indigenous Land Stewardship director, faculty of forestry, University of British Columbia (UBC)

Garry Merkel (nadi’ denezā) is Tahltan from northwestern British Columbia – what is now known as the Stikine River area. He is a great-grandfather and is a professional forester with more than 50 years of experience working in most areas of the forest/lands sector. He is the director of the Centre of Indigenous Land Stewardship currently housed in the faculty of forestry at UBC and has a long public policy history in B.C. and beyond. The most recent was co-chairing with Al Gorley the cabinet-appointed Old Growth Review Panel that produced A New Future for Old Forests, A Strategic Review of How British Columbia Manages its Old Forests Within its Ancient Ecosystems (2021).  Government adopted the 14 recommendations in this review. Merkel continues as an independent mentor, coach, facilitator and adviser to support the government in its leadership role, the forest sector and ultimately the overall provincial land sector through this transition.

Co-chair:
Shannon Janzen, former vice-president and chief forester, Western Forest Products

Shannon Janzen became the first woman in Canada to be appointed chief forester of a major forest products company in 2013 and later served as a vice-president of Western Forest Products from 2015 until 2022. Now the owner of Hypha Consulting Inc., she works with Indigenous communities to support their vision for economic and environmental reconciliation. Starting in operations, she spent over a decade in silviculture and planning, later becoming a lead negotiator for the Coast Forest Conservation Initiative. Her work in the Great Bear Rainforest earned her recognition as the Professional Forester of the Year in 2009.

Janzen has negotiated agreements benefiting First Nations and implemented cost-saving initiatives including LEAN supply chain programs and LiDAR Forest Inventory programs. She has also led carbon accounting for forest products and managed environmental social governance initiatives for publicly traded companies. Once a volunteer firefighter, Janzen is committed to making business sense of doing the right thing for people and the planet, tackling complex challenges with optimism and focus.

Norah White, deputy chief forester, B.C. government

Norah White is deputy chief forester and executive director in British Columbia’s Office of the Chief Forester within the provincial Ministry of Forests, the division of the provincial government responsible for leadership in forest stewardship and sustainable fibre supply.

White has an extensive background in provincial forest stewardship policy and has led recent sector-wide change in the areas of forest planning, forest carbon, and the management of old forests and ecosystems.

She holds a bachelor of science in forestry from the University of British Columbia (2004), an executive master of business administration from Simon Fraser University (2022), and a micro-certificate in forest carbon management from UBC’s faculty of forestry (2022).

White received her registered professional forester designation in 2007 and is an active member of Forest Professionals BC. She lives within the territory of the Lekwungen peoples, also known as Victoria, B.C., with her spouse and their two daughters, ages 12 and 14.

Jason Fisher, executive director, Forest Enhancement Society of BC

Jason Fisher, a registered professional forester, is the executive director of the Forest Enhancement Society of BC (FESBC). FESBC invests the funding it receives from the Ministry of Forests to support forest enhancement projects throughout B.C. that reduce wildfire risk, enhance wildlife habitat, assist in the recovery of forests affected by fire, insects and disease, and/or reduce greenhouse emissions through enhancing the utilization of wood waste for bioenergy.

Fisher earned degrees in forestry and law, and has worked in the private and public sector, serving as a vice-president with Dunkley Lumber and Pinnacle Renewable Energy and as an associate deputy minister in B.C.’s forest ministry. He is also an instructor at the University of Northern British Columbia, where he teaches a senior-level forest policy and management course. Fisher and his family live in Prince George, located within the traditional territory of the Lheidli T’enneh.

Jeff Bromley, chairperson, United Steelworkers Wood Council

Elected Steelworkers Wood Council Chair in 2019, Jeff Bromley was a rank and file IWA member beginning in 1994 when he was hired as an operator at the Elko Sawmill at age 25.

Bromley was born in Richmond and grew up in the mining town of Kimberley with his mother and stepfather, who was also an IWA member at the Canal Flats sawmill. He earned his associated degree at East Kootenay Community College (now College of the Rockies) with a major in history and a minor in political science.

Rising through the ranks of Local 1-405, Bromley was elected shop steward and plant committee secretary in 1999, and served as trustee from 2001 until 2008. His advocacy and political action activities have included the USW’s Stop the Killing, Enforce the Law campaign, the softwood lumber lobby effort in Ottawa and the Forest Renewal campaign in Victoria. Bromley has been a local union instructor through District 3’s Back to the Locals instructor program.

Bromley was elected third vice-president of Local 1-405 in 2008 and, in 2010, graduated from the USW’s leadership development program. Elected financial secretary in 2012, he has served the local union in a full-time staff role since 2012.

Harry Nelson, associate professor, faculty of forestry, UBC

Harry Nelson is an associate professor in the faculty of forestry at UBC, specializing in economics and policy. His research interests are in analyzing natural and environmental resource policy around how lands and resources are managed in Canada and the forces driving change in forestry, with the goal of developing solutions that can help enhance the long run sustainability of Canadian forests and the communities and businesses that rely upon them. Long-standing areas of his research include investigating the changing role of Indigenous peoples in land and resource management in Canada and assessing how forest-sector firms, governments and others are adapting to climate change impacts in forestry.

Hugh Scorah, postdoctoral fellow, UBC

Hugh Scorah is a researcher at UBC forestry and a business and finance consultant for the agricultural and forest sectors. He has worked on projects related to softwood lumber trade, small and medium-sized enterprises in forestry, community forestry, wildfire risk mitigation, economics of silviculture, hydrological risk and liability in forestry, timber auction design, the economics of sustained yield forestry and pricing of forest tenures.

Al Gorley, retired professional forester and former president, Professional Foresters Association

Al Gorley has over 50 years experience in forestry and natural resource management. Born in Burns Lake, he lived in a variety of communities in the northwest while growing up, including Queen Charlotte City (Daajing Giids), Kitwanga, Terrace, and Prince Rupert. His early career with the BC Forest Service saw him stationed in Houston, Lower Post, Ootsa Lake and Smithers.

During a second stint in Houston as forest district manager, he also served as president of the Association of British Columbia Forest Professionals and board chair for Northwest Community College. In 1994, he was appointed regional manager for the Prince George Forest Region and, for a while, worked concurrently as executive director of Forest Practices Code implementation. In 1998, he moved to Victoria to take on the role of vice-president for land and resources at Forest Renewal BC and was later promoted to chief operating officer.

In 2002, Gorley started his own consulting firm and worked with a wide variety of industries, communities and governments throughout the province, nationally and internationally, on natural resource and management matters. From 2004 until 2007, he served as president of the McGregor Model Forest and was a founding director of the Canadian Model Forest Network. He is a past member of the BC Forest Appeals Commission and Environmental Board and was chair of the Forest Practices Board from 2010 until 2013.

In 2019, Gorley was appointed to co-chair a strategic review of how old growth forests are managed in B.C., resulting in the 2020 report A New Future for Old Forests. Now retired, he continues to encourage management approaches that will support community and economic well-being within the envelope of ecosystem sustainability.

Laurie Kremsater, professional forester, biologist, researcher and educator

Laurie Kremsater is a professional forester and a professional biologist with more than 35 years experience in forest ecology and wildlife resource management. She completed her bachelor of science in forestry with honours and her master of science in forest wildlife ecology at UBC (1989).

She was a member of the Clayoquot Sound Scientific Panel, was part of the 1990s Old Growth Strategy and part of the team that directed Weyerhaeuser’s Forest Strategy – the most extensive research, adaptive management and monitoring work in B.C. concerning sustaining biodiversity during forest management. Her initial research concerned black-tailed deer ecology and forest birds, then her work expanded to include small mammals, amphibians, species at risk and biodiversity more broadly. Her work now focuses on managing ecosystems as a whole, helping to develop sustainable forest management plans that maintain biological diversity. She designs landscape reserves for the Great Bear Rainforest Order area and trains others to undertake that task. She is helping incorporate Ecosystem-Based Management into planning for Sechelt Community Forest and Lakes Forest Landscape Plan.

Educating and developing training materials are passions, all aimed at sustaining biodiversity, while maintaining sustainable economic timber opportunity. Kremsater works for academia, government, industry and non-government organizations. After many years as a research associate at UBC, she became an independent consultant, then joined Madrone Environmental for a period, and now once again is consulting on her own, trying, not so successfully yet, to slow down.

Contact:

Ministry of Forests
Media Relations
Forest.Media@gov.bc.ca
250 380-8491

NT5

May 15, 2025

Engagement and consent from Indigenous leaders is essential to fast-tracking new projects in BC.

BC Premier David Eby says Bill 15, to fast-track infrastructure and natural-resource projects, is going ahead — despite opposition from Indigenous groups and Green Party MLAs.

“It’s a critical bill for government, and it’s a confidence bill,” Eby insisted. “And the reason is pretty straightforward. We need to build the schools and hospitals and roads for a fast-growing province.”

But the Infrastructure Projects Act would also allow Eby’s cabinet to push through approvals for mines, clean-energy, and resource projects by fast-tracking environmental assessments, issuing permits, and overriding any municipal roadblocks.

Eby did say he would not use the bill to expedite new pipelines or LNG facilities.

And he told reporters that his proposal to hasten major project reviews will apply only to those that have direct partnerships with First Nations, including meaningful Indigenous equity stakes in projects on their traditional lands.

But BC’s three biggest First Nations organizations, who were not consulted in advance on Bill 15, met Eby and asked him to withdraw it and to start over, to address their concerns and to respect consultation practices and requirements.

The BC Assembly of First Nations, the First Nations Summit, and Union of BC Indian Chiefs pressed the government to shelve the bill and get back to the consultation table with them.

Robert Phillips, a member of the political executive at the First Nations Summit and a member of the First Nations Leadership Council, said: “If he wants to ram it right through, then there’s going to be a problem.”

And: “If we sit down and go through the processes that we set up, I do believe we can fix this.”

Terry Teegee, regional chief of the BC Assembly of First Nations: “The province is ramming through Bill 15 without any First Nations input who stand to be adversely impacted. This law may breach constitutional consultation requirements and is not consistent with the United Nations Declaration on the Rights of Indigenous Peoples.”

Grand Chief Stewart Phillip of the Union of BC Indian Chiefs: “In developing Bill 15 the province conducted no meaningful consultation and co-operation with First Nations. . . . We are deeply alarmed by the province’s continued backsliding on reconciliation.”

And the Nuu-chah-nulth Tribal Council on Vancouver Island, representing 14 Nations with some 10,000 members, asked: “Does B.C. think they can run roughshod over First Nations rights, title, and territories for the sake of ‘expediency’? Does B.C. think they can rush legislation through that has potential to have a major impact on First Nation lands, waters, and resources without consultation and collaboration leading to free, prior, and informed consent? NTC has so many questions on this piece of legislation and no answers.”

The groups say consultation is supposed to take place under BC’s Declaration on the Rights of Indigenous Peoples Act (DRIPA) that was passed in 2019.

As the government then put it: “If the policy or legislation may affect Indigenous Peoples, this stage requires engagement in dialogue with Indigenous Peoples in order to identify priorities, assess how the potential policy or legislation may affect Indigenous Peoples, and identify how the legislation may be consistent with UNDRIP.”

But on Bill 15 there was no such consultation.

Eby was quoted as apologizing to First Nations leaders for the lack of consultation — but he did not promise to go back to the drawing board as they requested.

The premier told reporters that some of the backlash is due to a misunderstanding of the spirit of the legislation. “Nothing . . . can be interpreted to take away any Indigenous rights or obligations that the government has.”

And he quickly insisted that any fast-tracked project would require “full Indigenous support” — but did not say how that would be determined.

“These are all huge and critical projects for our province, and it helps us grow our economy at the same time as we’re facing threats from the US. . . . We think that faster delivery of public projects and major economic projects in the province will be popular with the public.”

The BC Greens’ two MLAs said they will vote against Bill 15. But even if all Opposition votes go that way, the NDP would still be able to pass the bill by using Speaker Raj Chouhan as a tie-breaking vote.

Eby initially promised such a legislature showdown over the earlier Bill 7, the Economic Stabilization (Tariff Response) Act that was introduced after the US moved to impose tariffs on trading nations.

Bill 7 would have given Eby and the cabinet sweeping powers to amend laws without legislative debate or votes. But after blasts from labour, business, legal, and Indigenous leaders, Eby backed down on that part of the bill and promised to “get the balance right” with revised legislation.

As of now, though, Eby has made no such promise for Bill 15.

His government says: “The ministry has begun engagement with First Nations on this legislation through notifications and information sessions, and those conversations will continue.”

But such “engagement” — after introduction of the bill — is not the same as the advance pre-bill consultation that the Nations say the government is supposed to carry out under its Declaration on the Rights of Indigenous Peoples Act.

First Nations leaders now await a signal from the government on whether it will start over again with Bill 15 or a revised bill.

NT5