Public Participation in Forest Management

The population of Quebec is called upon to participate in the main stages of the forest management process (policies and strategies, planning, forest operations, monitoring, etc.). The Forest Act stipulates that the values and needs of the populations concerned must be considered when making choices aimed at achieving sustainable forest management. The public therefore has a voice in the process.

The government consults citizens on major forest issues and gives them an opportunity to state their views on different aspects of forest use through formal consultation and coordination mechanisms. In fact, citizens are consulted at public hearings and standing committee sessions on major forest management projects.

Native communities also participate more and more closely in the management of Quebec forests. Several agreements have been signed that assigned them forest managers by encouraging the integration of their respective knowledge and by enabling them to adapt forest management to the traditional values of the first inhabitants of Quebec. These agreements have given concrete results especially with the Abenaquis, the Algonquins, the Attikameks and the Cris. The best known is the Lac-Barrière Trilateral Agreement by which the governments of Quebec and Canada agreed to jointly draw up a draft, the integrated resources (forest-fauna) development plan which gives native people a more important role in the forest management process.

Finally, the government informs the population on the state of forests and how they are managed. This is aimed at improving the knowledge of citizens who are now being invited to get involved in developing the resources of their environment and demonstrate transparency. Every five years, the ministère submits a report on the state of Quebec forests to the provincial parliament. The population can also check if the management of our forest is in conformity with the principles of sustainable development.

Thus, the government of Quebec clearly demonstrates its desire to take account of the new social realities and to harmonize the multiple uses of the forest with the integrated management of the forest environment in mind.