In July 12, The National Aboriginal Forestry Association (NAFA) published a press release in which they demanded that the Canadian Council of Forest Ministers change its policies regarding forest management and improve the way it deals with aboriginal peoples. “Aboriginal peoples in Canada are forest dependent with 80% of aboriginal communities located in forest areas. All forest related policies impact on Aboriginal peoples. Forest policy should at the very least address the issue of constitutionally protected Aboriginal and Treaty rights. Aboriginal and Treaty rights are basically forest rights, a form of forest tenure, that have to be appropriately reconciled in how we manage forests,” says Harry Bombay, Executive Director at NAFA.
