I'll move on to aboriginal partnerships, which was my fifth point.
Kenora is partnering with first nations on economic development, because our futures are intertwined. We are treaty partners and recognize that first nations have constitutional and treaty rights to their traditional land use areas. This very much affects the forest sector. We are now seeing first nation and private sector projects emerging in the private sector. These are very important, but they are imperiled by the fragile state of the forest sector. There are limited markets, export barriers are present, and the forest economy is impacted by the U.S. slowdown.
In summary, each region of Canada is different with respect to the opportunities and challenges facing the forest sector. Northwestern Ontario needs federal and provincial policy support that is sensitive to the unique challenges facing our forest products companies. We need to see the federal and provincial governments working together. This is more important than ever at this time. The private sector and first nations must also be engaged. We must come together in ways unlike any in our history.