Thank you for that.
Ms. Wilhelm, you talked a little bit about the work you're doing in indigenous communities and that relationship. Where I come from, that's very important. As I think some of you know, I come from the little city of Meadow Lake, and that's actually where your first mill in Canada was purchased several years ago.
I was an accountant in that community for 35 years and the mayor for almost 10 years, and I think I have a pretty good grasp of the impact that your mill has had in a small community like that in a fairly remote northern Saskatchewan community. The impact of jobs, both direct and indirect, and the supporting businesses is very significant. I saw it in both my roles, as an accountant and mayor, like I said.
In the city of Meadow Lake, we also have a very close partnership with Flying Dust First Nation and the Meadow Lake Tribal Council. We're literally neighbours, as you know, across the street from each other. I'm also very aware of the impact that the mill has had on the surrounding first nation communities, especially through the Meadow Lake Tribal Council. Saskatchewan has the highest indigenous participation in the forestry sector in Canada at 27%. I'm sure you're well aware of that. Indigenous partnerships in the forest industry are not only beneficial to the communities and the people, but they allow for the voices of indigenous people to be part of the management of the resource in those areas, and I think that is significant as well.
Ms. Wilhelm, could you expand a little further and explain to the committee a little bit deeper what role your company has, and maybe the forestry sector in general, with regard to economic reconciliation with indigenous communities, but also how that is really important in the sustainability of forests because of the partnerships and interaction with those communities?