Quebec government renews promise to make changes to forestry reform bill

Quebec Indigenous Affairs Minister Ian Lafrenière responds to the Opposition during question period, in the national assembly in Quebec City, Wednesday, June 5, 2024. THE CANADIAN PRESS/Jacques Boissinot

The Quebec government says it will find solutions and defuse rising tension over a forestry bill that has sparked blockades and confrontations between Indigenous protesters and industry workers.

Indigenous Affairs Minister Ian Lafrenière and Natural Resources Minister Maïté Blanchette Vézina have renewed a promise to modify the proposed legislation following meetings this week with Indigenous leaders.

“I am working on amendments,” Blanchette Vézina told reporters after a meeting Wednesday morning with the Assembly of First Nations Quebec—Labrador. “We want to find more consensual ways of arriving at a modern forestry regime.”

The two ministers met for six hours on Tuesday with the three communities of the Atikamekw Nation and representatives of the forest industry in La Tuque, Que., about 220 kilometres northeast of Montreal. Blockades in opposition to the legislation have disrupted forestry operations in the area.

The bill, tabled in the Quebec legislature this spring, aims to protect communities dependent on the commercial forestry industry. The legislation would divide public forests into zones designated for conservation, multi-purpose use or forestry.

According to the bill, actions that “restrict the carrying out of forest development activities” would be prohibited in the forestry zones, as would conservation measures.

Indigenous leaders were quick to criticize the bill, saying it infringed on their rights. After it was tabled, an organization called MAMU First Nation, which describes itself as a group of hereditary chiefs and land defenders, began organizing blockades of forestry roads in the province.

The blockades have led to hostile exchanges between the group’s members and forestry workers, both in person and online, which have escalated in recent days. “This has to stop, because you can see for yourself on social media how it sometimes gets inflamed,” Lafrenière said Wednesday.

Following the meetings, Blanchette Vézina said one of the major points of contention for Indigenous leaders is how forestry zones are established. “The way consultations are conducted needs to be reviewed,” she said. She added that the forestry sector is currently in a “precarious” situation, and the economy of Quebec’s regions must be protected.

Last month, the Assembly of First Nations Quebec—Labrador announced it was walking away from discussions with the government, which it said had not shown “genuine political will” to collaborate on the forestry reform.

The assembly wants the province to scrap the zoning strategy, which it describes as a form of land privatization. It also wants Quebec to put in place a “co-management” model that would see First Nations work with industry and government to determine which areas must be protected.

In a social media post on Tuesday, Lafrenière said the province wants to use the zoning model to protect 30 per cent of the forest. “Currently, the forestry industry operates on 100 per cent of the territory and this is what we want to change by protecting one-third,” he said.

On Wednesday, he added that there are widespread misconceptions about the bill and its aims, and the government must adjust how it explains the proposed reform. “We are going to do it together,” he said. “It will work.”

This report by The Canadian Press was first published Aug. 20, 2025.