Our Forestry Law Group

Our Forestry Law team is comprised of lawyers from various disciplines practicing in our regional offices throughout the country.

Members of the team have extensive experience in all facets of forestry law, including regulatory, environmental, trade and aboriginal issues.

The members of our Forestry Law team have acted for private and public forestry companies as well as the provincial and federal governments in a wide range of forestry law matters and issues.

Our Experience

The group has significant expertise in:

• Forestry Projects and Acquisitions
  • The acquisition of the coastal solid wood division of Weldwood of Canada Limited.
  • The acquisition of Evans Forest Products Limited.
  • The formation of the Pacifica Paper Limited Partnership and the acquisition of MB Paper Limited.
  • The acquisition of Repap Manitoba Inc.
  • The acquisition of the High Level Lumber Division of Daishowa-Marubeni International Ltd. in Alberta.
  • The acquisition of Crestbrook Forest Industries Ltd.
  • The acquisition of Finlay Forest Industries Inc.
  • Regulatory issues in connection with the acquisition of Donohue Inc.
  • Advising the Government of British Columbia on issues relating to Skeena Cellulose Inc.
  • The acquisition of the MacKenzie pulp mill.
  • The acquisition of Primex Forest Products Ltd.
  • Acting for lenders on credit facilities for Norske Skog Canada Limited.
  • The acquisition of a bleached chemo thermo mechanical pulp mill in Chetwynd, British Columbia from Louisiana-Pacific.
  • Acting for the British Columbia government in the Xeni Gwet’in case.
  • The acquisition of three oriented strand board facilities and related assets in Minnesota from Potlatch Corporation.
  • The acquisition of an oriented strand board facility and related assets in Slave Lake, Alberta from Weyerhaeuser.
  • The divestiture of coastal timber assets to what is now Brookfield Asset Management Inc.
  • The acquisition of the Fort St. James Sawmill.
  • The acquisition of the Meadow Lake pulp mill.
  • Regulatory issues in connection with the liquidation of a forest products company.
  • Acquisition of the assets of Coe Newnes/McGehee Inc.
• Corporate/Commercial and Forest Act Issues
  • Negotiation and settlement of joint ownership structures for production facilities.
  • Logging contracts in the coastal and interior regions of British Columbia.
  • Road use agreements, market logging agreements, chip, pulplog and other fibre supply agreements, sawlog supply agreements and pulp sales agreements.
  • Tenure management agreements.
  • Joint marketing agreements for lumber and pulp.
  • Credit facility agreements for forest product companies.
  • Research development agreements for forest product companies in British Columbia and Alberta.
• Environmental Matters
  • Obtaining injunctions against environmental and native protesters, including acting for forest product companies in the Walbran Valley protests. 
  • Defending forestry clients charged under the Fisheries Act and Waste Management Act.
  • Defending administrative contraventions under the Forest and Range Practices Act and its predecessor.
• Aboriginal Matters
  • Counsel for the Government of British Columbia in the forestry-related Xeni Gwet’in litigation, which is likely to be the first Aboriginal Title case to be determined since the Delgamuukw decision in 1997.
  • Assisting forestry companies in legal issues, negotiations and developments involving First Nations.
  • Advice to forestry companies respecting aboriginal rights, aboriginal title and traditional territories. 
  • Advice respecting archaeological and Heritage Conservation Act issues affecting logging operations.