The Government of Canada announced a $12.4-million federal investment in 14 projects intended to strengthen British Columbia’s forest sector, including low-carbon wood technologies, mass timber in construction, support for Indigenous groups and forest sector businesses, value-added manufacturing, and export-market diversification.
The funding is delivered through Natural Resources Canada programs that include the Investments in Forest Industry Transformation program, the Green Construction through Wood Program, the Indigenous Forestry Initiative and the Global Forest Leadership Program. These programs were renewed this year with a new federal $500-million commitment.
Under the Investments in Forest Industry Transformation program, Spearhead Timberworks Inc. received $7,500,000 for a project in Nelson, British Columbia, to build a new facility to manufacture double- and single-curved glue-laminated timber products and hybrid glulam building components using locally sourced, underutilized hardwood fibre.
Another Investments in Forest Industry Transformation award, $1,660,500, goes to Yinka Dene Economic Development Limited Partnership for a demonstration plant in Burns Lake, British Columbia, for the production of wood-fibre insulation and protective packaging. The project is described as a joint venture with Plantee Bioplastics Inc. under the name DicinFoam LP, with the facility planned to produce wood-fibre protective packaging and wood-fibre foam insulation at an annual capacity of 100 tonnes of biodegradable foam for the next three years, using feedstocks that can include insect- and fire-damaged fibre, slash, bark, sawdust and shavings.
Several Indigenous Forestry Initiative projects focus on land-use planning, equipment and training, and forest stewardship. Laxyip Management Office Society received $360,000 for the Gitxsan Land Use Planning Project in Hazelton, British Columbia, to prepare watershed land-use plans and a roadmap for economic development grounded in Gitxsan laws and oral histories. Tl’esqox (Toosey) First Nation received $337,109 to install and commission an industrial wood-drying kiln and purchase a forklift in Riske Creek, British Columbia, to expand value-added processing of locally sourced timber. Burns Lake Development Corporation received $60,000 to deliver a 12-week apprentice heavy-duty mechanical trades training internship to support five apprentices working toward Red Seal certification, in partnership with the College of New Caledonia and Burns Lake Native Logging Ltd.
Other Indigenous Forestry Initiative awards include $48,600 for ʔEsdilagh First Nation in Quesnel, British Columbia, to support participation in the Quesnel Forest Landscape Planning Pilot Project with a focus on old-growth management, and $46,481 for Lytton First Nation in Lytton, British Columbia, to construct and test two full-scale prototypes of a trailer-mounted firewood storage unit intended to comply with BC FireSmart guidelines. Kalum Ventures Limited received $45,000 to acquire and implement Phoenix Connect forest management software in Terrace, British Columbia, to support planning, tracking, reporting, monitoring and administrative management for forestry activities. Cheslatta Carrier Nation received $45,000 to advance monitoring components of its forest stewardship plan in Southbank, British Columbia, and Quatsino First Nation received $45,000 to implement its land-use plan through an integrated resource management plan focused on forest stewardship in Coal Harbour, British Columbia.
For export-market development under the Global Forest Leadership Program, Forestry Innovation Investment (BC FII) received $805,209 for activities in China, India, Vietnam, the United Kingdom, and the Middle East and North Africa. Canada Wood Group received $519,294 for market-diversification work in Japan, Korea, China and Central Europe. BC Wood Specialties Group received $486,075 to organize participation in trade events, tradeshows and missions in Japan, South Korea, China and Mexico.
Under the Green Construction through Wood Program, the British Columbia Institute of Technology received $483,000 for the Mass Timber Training Network project to create a trades training framework for mass timber and establish a foundation to accelerate modern methods of construction education across Canada.
