Madam Speaker, it is an honour to table a second petition on National Indigenous Peoples Day in Canada. The petitioners note that indigenous people have rights and title to their traditional territories and have been stewards of these lands since time immemorial.
First nations and indigenous land defenders are calling for the protection of the remaining 2.7% of the original high productivity old-growth forests in British Columbia, 75% of which are slated to be logged.
The petitioners call upon the government to work with the provinces and the first nations to immediately halt logging of endangered old-growth ecosystems; fund the long-term protection of old-growth ecosystems as a priority for Canada's climate action plan and reconciliation with indigenous peoples; support value-added forestry initiatives in partnership with first nations to ensure Canada's forestry industry is sustainable and based on the harvesting of second- and third-growth forests; ban the export of raw logs and maximize resource use for local jobs; and ban the use of whole trees for wood pellet biofuel production.