Gaspésie’s forestry industry

“If you’re not used to working in the woods, you might find it tough.”

Seasoned woodsmen all – the three men featured in the photo-essay  are working within an
industry that was in trouble even before the crisis hit.  As Gaspésie’s forestry sector
falters, they’re increasingly dependent on seasonal tree-planting work.

The economic downturn, combined with the high Canadian dollar and the decline in newspaper circulation, has seen the demand for Canadian wood products drop dramatically– down by half in 2009 compared to recent years.

At the same time, the Quebec government has been investing millions in forest management
developing more rigorous methods of management and regeneration in a bid to protect jobs and be better positioned for an eventual economic recovery.

“It’s all very well to be planting trees, but we need to ask ourselves what we’re going to
do with all that wood, “ says  Gilles Fortier, a professor in forestry technology at the
Cégep de la Gaspésie et des Îles. “ China and Brazil are now producing cheaper paper products than we are, so the future of our paper mills is in question. Primary producers too are being eclipsed. Sawmills are contending with a collapse in the demand for lumber, a high dollar and an oversupply of wood shavings.” Wood shavings, sold to paper mills, once accounted for a significant proportion of primary producers’ revenue, but that market is now saturated.

“Canada’s traditional forestry industry has been losing ground to competition from other countries, and our high dollar has cut into our export sales,” says Fortier, who argues we must develop more specialised products in order to regain a competitive edge. Some companies are taking the lead in this regard, he notes, but the Gaspesie industry is lagging.

Fortier is also concerned about an imminent shortage of skilled labour. “If you take Quebec,
the number of students registering for forestry management and technology programs has been decreasing in the last 2 or 3 years.” The Cégep de la Gaspésie et des Îles, Fortier’s own institution, has not run its forestry program for  two years now due to insufficient numbers of applicants. “Our most recent graduates are mostly working in parallel sectors, not traditional forestry trades, and the question is whether we’ll have enough skilled labour once the market recovers.”

 Facts & figures

•    The first large-scale exploitation of Gaspésie’s forests was linked to boat-building, and it was not until the late 19th century that a modern industry began to take emerge, with sawmills and pulp-and-paper operations. It would gradually replace the fishery, historically prone to instability, as the motor of the region’s economy.

•    Since 2005 over 60,000 Quebec jobs have been lost in forestry and related sectors,

•    For every eliminated in a sawmill, two other positions are lost in other areas of the industry.

•    60% of all Quebec-produced newsprint is sold to the USA. American demand for newsprint has been dropping by about 15% yearly since 2005 – and has dropped by 35% since January 2009.  Out of about 50 paper mills operating  in Quebec, about 20 produce mostly newsprint.

•    With the drop in demand for newsprint, Quebec sawmills have accumulated a 600,000
tonne surplus of wood shavings. Where they once sold shavings, they now must pay to dispose of them.

•    Between 2004 and 2008, one in four factories has disappeared from the primary
processing sector of Quebec forestry. In Gaspésie the number of operations has dropped from 28 to 23.


For more information on forestry in Newfoundland and Labrador, click here.
For more information on forestry in Mackenzie, BC, click here.

Sources:
L’Actualité, October 15, 2009; Consortium en foresterie Gaspésie-Les Îles;  Le Soleil, September 17  2009; Radio-Canada;  CNW Telbec; interview with Gilles Fortier, Professor in Forest Management,  Cégep de la Gaspésie et des Îles.

Percé

The town takes its name from the Percé Rock, which dominates the landscape here at the eastern tip of Quebec’s Gaspé Peninsula. The community traces its history back to 1534, when Jacques Cartier came ashore nearby. In ensuing centuries the region became a destination for seasonal fishermen – and many present-day inhabitants still work in seasonal jobs.  

Facts & figures

The town’s population is 3,419 (2006 census figures), down 5.4% from 2001, when census
figures put the population at 3,614. During this same period, the population of Quebec
increased by 4%.

The average age is 48.4.

88.2% of the town’s population- 3,015 people - are 15 or over.

The average after-tax income for workers, age 15 and over, is $:16,976.

The number of first-generation immigrants in town is 15

Among residents who are 15 and over:

•    51% (1540) do not have a diploma, certificate or degree.
•    20% (590) possess a high school diploma or equivalent.
•    16% (470) have done an apprenticeship possess a trades certificate in a trade
•    7% have a college or other non-university diploma.
•    3% have university degrees.
    (2008 figures)

The unemployment rate in 2006 is 25.5% (2008 figures)

Gaspésie-Îles de la Madeleine

Percé is located within the administrative region of Gaspésie-Îles de la Madeleine.

Population:  95,461

From 2006 to 2007, 304 people left the region, while the provincial population rose by
22,221.

In November 2008, from a total work force of about 42,000 – about 35,000 were employed.

•    9% are employed in the primary sector: forestry, logging, farming, and mining.
•    7% work in manufacturing.
•    15% work in the wholesale and retail trade.
•    37% work in commercial services: utilities, construction, transportation and
warehousing, information and cultural industries.
•    32% are employed in non-commercial services: education, health care, social
services, and public administration.
•    17.3% were unemployed.

Sources:
Canadian Encyclopedia; Statistics Canada; Canadian Economic Development