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Valerie Courtois
June 18th, 2010By C. Hunnie
Valerie Courtois has been involved in some of the most exciting issues developing in boreal forest conservation in Canada. With modest intentions that started with a decision to swap environmental sciences for enrolment in the University of Moncton’s forestry sciences program, ‘the hand’s on’ approach was – and still is – the factor which motivates her.
After completing university, Valerie was recruited by Assembly of First Nations (AFN) of Quebec and Labrador as a Forestry Advisor. Here she received an introduction to Aboriginal forestry which was, Valerie admits frustrating, because it lacked the on-the-ground experience she wanted. So when a job came up at the Innu Nation – her nation – as a Forest Planner it was an exciting and logical next move.
“Up until this point there had been no industrial tenure in Labrador, new industry was being built, so this was a better place to learn,” Valerie explains.
The Innu Nation was involved in a really innovative ecosystem-based plan for an area about 7 million hectares, an area twice the size of Vancouver Island in south-central Labrador (called Nitassinan). As an ecosystem-based plan, the plan set out to balance social, economic, and ecological values. There was no set number in mind for how much to protect when they began planning; they set out with a set of ecological criteria. The outcome was that 50 percent of the regional boreal land-base is now protected from industrial developments.
As the Forest Planner, Valerie’s first order of business was to implement the new forest management plan. Since this was largely a scientific-based plan, this involved reducing the gap between the science and the cumulative data – between standard forestry practices and what people needed in the community. Under the newly formed Guardian Program, Innu members were trained as forest technicians, interviewers and community liaisons and were responsible for meeting with community members to address what it was they needed from the forest.
“It’s really about planning for humans, and not about planning for the forest itself [...] If there’s no Innu, then there’s no Innu economy. So you have to protect Nitassiman and you have to protect the land first to make sure it can support what Innu need to be Innu, in order to create an Innu economy.”
This is where the Innu have deviated significantly from typical forest planning. The usual method has been to allocate areas for industrial development first, without any long-term planning for other land-use practices.
The Innu understood that this type of planning approach wouldn’t work for them and so set out to plan their future, and incidentally the future of their children and grandchildren. They started by determining what it was they wanted to protect. Community members provided input and were asked what areas were important to them and what needed to stay. They essentially determined what it was that made the landscape the landscape.
“The network of protected areas ended up being important cultural sites, travel routes, and harvesting areas – they were all interconnected. Protection of 50 percent is a huge area, its bigger than other forest management areas, but there is still development in some areas where people felt uncomfortable and that was because of something that just couldn’t be translated into planning – some spiritual value or a story that is associated with a place that you can’t really draw around or account for necessarily,” Valerie explains.
With such an ambitious plan, challenges are inevitable, especially when there are great differences in opinions and needs throughout the community. But these plans should, and need to be done, Valerie asserts. For the Innu Nation, the need to bring in industry and jobs into Goose Bay was evident; the alternative was to send out Labrador’s high value wood from boreal forests which would send jobs out of the province as well. The Innu Nation’s progressive ecosystem-based management plan also meant the community is well prepared and now in a position for future decision-making regarding forestry.
“Land use planning is key for ensuring that you have what you need to be you, and for ensuring that you also have a future in development and to grow. To create certainty. It’s a very important tool that you can bring to government and industry in negotiating with them to ensure that their activities don’t impact you, in a negative way anyway.”
Valerie is now the Senior Advisor of Aboriginal Relations for the Canadian Boreal Initiative (CBI) – ‘a national convener for conservation in Canada’s Boreal Forest.’ Working alongside CBI while she was still with the Innu Nation, Valerie saw this as an opportunity to work at the policy level to affect greater change. Her responsibilities now include two significant areas in Canada’s boreal forest – Quebec’s Plan Nord and Ontario’s Far North, commitments made by the provincial governments to permanently protect at least 225,000 square kilometres in Ontario and 50 percent of the territory above the 49 parallel in Quebec. For these, she will promote land-use planning and the idea of balance between conservation and development. She will work directly with the communities, including her own.
“I feel that through CBI I can probably have a bigger impact on the opportunities for my community than I would working directly for the community [...] and have the opportunity to influence what happens because of the position CBI is in,” says Valerie.
In the tradition of a hand’s on approach, Valerie continues to define her position as a boreal leader by ensuring ecosystem values are integral in sustainable frameworks for on the ground planning, effectively inspiring those that understand this is the best opportunity for a healthy future for the boreal and its people.
