Thank you, Mr. Chair.
Good morning, Mr. Chair and committee members.
My name is Glenn Hargrove, and I am assistant deputy minister of the Canadian Forest Service at Natural Resources Canada, NRCan. Thank you for inviting me here this morning.
I would like to begin by recognizing that we are gathered today on the traditional unceded territory of the Algonquin Anishinabe people.
Canada is a steward of a vast forest resource containing 9% of the world's forests.
Activities from logging to the manufacture of wood products and pulp and paper contribute about $30 billion to nominal GDP. The sector is the primary source of jobs and income for some 300 communities, including many rural, remote and indigenous communities across the country. The sector directly employs nearly 200,000 people, including 11,000 indigenous people.
With strong laws and regulations in place that ensure forests in Canada are harvested sustainably, the sector is well positioned to—