Cedar Valley employees call for transparency in Community Forest
By Abigail Popple, Local Journalism Initiative Reporter, RMG
The Ministry of Forests will not intervene in the ongoing dispute between the Valemount Community Forest and Cedar Valley Holdings, according to a spokesperson from the ministry. Cedar Valley employees are currently circulating a petition calling for an audit of the Community Forest, as well as the restructuring of its board of directors.
The conflict went public in late April when Cedar Valley owner Jason Alexander announced the company would close at the end of June. According to Alexander, the Community Forest has been sending usable cedar to pulp mills in Prince George, while Cedar Valley struggles to access a sufficient supply of cedar.
Valemount Community Forest did not respond to The Goat’s request for comment on the allegation that the organization has sent cedar to pulp mills in Prince George. The Goat reached out to Canfor to ask whether its Prince George pulp mill had a fibre agreement with the Valemount Community Forest, but did not receive a response.
Cedar Valley employee Simon Heiniger told The Goat he has concerns about transparency and accountability in the Community Forest. For example, the minutes of last year’s annual general meeting have not been posted online, and the date of this year’s meeting has not been announced, he said.
“I haven’t seen any adequate response from them to any of this,” he said of the Community Forest’s reaction to the mill closure. “There’s just a lot of accountability issues… I don’t think we can keep going with the same board.”
Heiniger’s petition, which he said has amassed over 200 signatures, includes a request for regular community consultation forums with the Community Forest, as well as the publication of annual reports outlining its logging activities, community investments and profits. The petition also requests a formal guarantee that locally-harvested timber is made available to local manufacturing.
In addition to the petition, Heiniger contacted the Ministry of Forests to request support for Cedar Valley. In an email statement to The Goat, the Ministry said the company’s fibre agreement with the Community Forest is a business-to-business agreement which the Province is not a part of. The Ministry says it will not provide a comment on the conflict. Heiniger said he is frustrated with the lack of response from the Province and the Community Forest.
“I hope that we can find a certain sense of community and figure it out, but it seems a little late for that,” Heiniger said.
Heiniger says he will make a delegation to Valemount Council during its May 27th meeting.
The Goat will continue to follow this story.
