Canada’s Chantiers Chibougamau Forestlands First to Meet New FSC Standards

Chantiers Chibougamau, also known as Nordic Structures, has achieved its Forest Stewardship Councils (FSC) forest certification. They are the first company in Canada to do so under the new FSC standards which were release about a year ago. The new FSC standard unifies all regional sustainability efforts and is now updated to reflect such pressing issues as the woodland caribou crisis, the rights of Indigenous peoples, workers’ rights (including gender equity), conservation and landscape management. The company’s operations located a seven-hour drive north of Montreal in Chibougamau, Quebec, employ more than 1,000 workers in the province and produce I-joists, glued-laminated and cross-laminated timber using the region’s small black spruce trees. Fréderic Verreault, executive director, corporate development said, “The FSC standard provides us with important guideposts and best practices that reinforce who we are and where we want to go as a company. If it were too easy to achieve the standard’s requirements, then it simply wouldn’t have the meaning that it does.”