Dark days and opportunity: B.C. First Nations look to expand forest economy – Vernon Morning Star
June 25, 2025
Panelists discuss industry challenges at Indigenous Resource Opportunities Conference in Nanaimo
B.C. First Nations building their forest economies are facing foreign and domestic challenges that must be met for the resource to provide wealth and employment in the coming decades.
During a keynote address and panel discussion Friday, June 20, at the Indigenous Resource Opportunities Conference in Nanaimo, Ravi Parmar, B.C. minister of forests, discussed those challenges with John Jack, chief councillor of the Huu-ay-aht First Nations, Kim Haakstad, president and CEO of the B.C. Council of Forest Industries, and panel moderator Dallas Smith, council president of the Nanwakolas First Nation.
“We’ve got solid lumber duties that are set to go up, we’ve got threats of a tariff…, wildfires that are burning our province and have for the last number of years that have certainly devastated our fibre supply in different pockets of the province and, as much as those are significant challenges, there are so many opportunities as well,” Parmar said.
