Reconciliation in the woods? Three pathways towards forest justice

Abstract

Forests are the locus of conflict in Canada, where the rights and interests of Indigenous peoples can collide with those of the province (Crown) and the forest industry. Efforts to achieve “forest justice” — or sufficient forest rights to meet the self-governance goals of Indigenous peoples, and in ways that ensure collective resilience — have typically been driven by the principle of reconciliation. In this paper, these “forest justice” efforts were examined through a tripartite justice theory, involving recognition, representation, and redistribution pathways. This paper documents that recognition involves Crown efforts to recognize Indigenous peoples’ forest rights, including ownership, and access and use rights; representation includes improved participation in forest governance; and redistribution covers the allocation of timber harvesting rights and forest lands to Indigenous peoples. This study documents that the bulk of “forest justice” activity is focused on the redistribution of timber harvesting licences, the volume of which has doubled over the last two decades. These three paths to justice must all be pursued together to deliver “forest justice”, and to move towards “reconciliation in the woods”. Recommendations are offered to support forest justice in practice.