Conversation and Collaboration: Building the Future Canadian Forest Products Sector with Aboriginal Talent [Forest Products Association of Canada, FPAC]

There is a common understanding Aboriginal peoples may be a key human resource in helping the Canadian forest products sector address future labour force requirements. Concurrently, there is a strong desire on the part of First Nations and Aboriginal groups to expand entrepreneurial opportunities within the forest products sector and to continue to work and live in rural areas of Canada. To build upon this, the Board of Directors of the Forest Products Sector Council (FPSC-CSPF) initiated the Advancing Aboriginal Inclusion Project to conduct research, and develop and disseminate tools and strategies to assist in increasing present and future Aboriginal employment and participation in the forest products sector. The two year project was participatory in nature and incorporated traditional knowledge gathering as an integral aspect of the project. Work on this project began in early 2010 and culminates with this report.