Bringing home the bacon: Industry, employment, and income in boreal Canada

Abstract

Questions about the contribution of forestry to the socio-economic status of Canadian boreal communities have risen to the fore as debates have emerged about extending areas of protection in the region. Our previous research showed that boreal communities tend to be worse off socio-economically than other Canadian rural communities, and that labour income from the forest industry is relatively small. Because boreal development and protection initiatives are likely to be province-specific, this paper uses 2001 Statistics Canada data to examine the socio-economic status of boreal communities and the relationship between forest dependence and status-by province. We find a generally positive relationship between forest sector employment and employment income across the boreal region, but no such positive relationship between forest employment and unemployment rates, suggesting that the particular indicator chosen to represent wellbeing is a crucial consideration. Further, we see a great deal of inter-provincial variation in the relative importance of resource industries, suggesting the utility of province-specific and joint national initiatives. Finally, although the forest sector looms large in the collective psyche of the boreal region, we find diversified employment: other sectors (i.e., energy, agriculture, and hospitality) make a significant contribution to the economy of boreal communities.Key words: community status, well-being, forest dependence, forest policy, triad land management, boreal forest RÉSUMÉLes questions portant sur la contribution de la foresterie au statut socio-économique des communautés du Canada en milieu boréal se sont retrouvées au coeur de l'actualité lorsque les débats se sont ouverts sur l' extension des zones de protection dans cette région forestière. Nos recherches précédentes avaient indiqué que les communautés en milieu boréal tendent à être plus mal en point au niveau socio-économique que les autres communautés rurales du Canada et que les revenus d' emploi tirés de la foresterie sont relativement modestes. Compte tenu que les initiatives de développement et de protection en milieu boréal sont somme toute spécifiques à chaque province, cet article réfère aux données de Statistiques Canada de 2001 pour examiner l' état socio-économique des communautés du milieu boréal, ainsi que la relation entre la dépendance envers la forêt et le statut et ce, par province. Nous avons observé généralement une relation positive entre les emplois du secteur forestier et les revenus d' emploi pour tout le milieu boréal, mais pas de relation similaire positive entre les emplois du secteur et le taux de chômage, ce qui laisse entendre que l'indice spécifique choisi pour représenter le bien-être constitue un élément déterminant. De plus, nous avons remarqué un fort niveau de variation inter-provinciale de l'importance relative des industries à base de ressources, démontrant l'utilité des initiatives spécifiques des provinces et des initiatives conjointes de niveau national. Finalement, même si...

An introduction to Canada’s boreal zone: ecosystem processes, health, sustainability, and environmental issues

“…Most people, however, live in small to medium-sized communities. Total employment in the region was 1.66 million in 2001, and about 60 000 individuals living in the boreal zone were directly employed by the region's forestry sector (Bogdanski 2008;Patriquin et al 2009). Of the hundreds of communities in the zone, most depend on a single natural renewable or nonrenewable resource for their economic base.…”

Atmospheric change as a driver of change in the Canadian boreal zone1

“…Many aspects of the socio-ecological sustainability of the boreal are tightly linked with atmospheric change, underscoring its significance as a (meta-)driver in this vast region. Resourcedependent economic and industrial sectors (e.g., forestry, energy production, mining, agriculture, fisheries) in the boreal have represented a relatively minor portion of the total income and employment in Canada (Patriquin et al 2007(Patriquin et al , 2009. The projected effects of atmospheric change have the potential to influence future contributions of the boreal to the economy of Canada (Kovacs and Thistlethwaite 2014;Lemmen et al 2014;Smyth et al 2017a).…”

Carbon Cycling, Climate Regulation, and Disturbances in Canadian Forests: Scientific Principles for Management

“…These activities do not lead to major deforestation, but require various linear features (road networks, pipelines, seismic lines, railways, and power lines) that fragment forests and influence much more land than the area they cover [8,12,15,16,38,46]. Other less prominent activities related to resource extraction also provide goods and income to Canadians [14,38,47]. In particular, the extraction of non-timber forest products (NTFP) is important and shows an interesting growth potential.…”

“…Although not inaccurate, this perspective is incomplete: excluding the Arctic ecozones, more than one fourth of Canada's landmass is within 500 m of human access or activity; outside the boreal region, less than 45% of the forested area is found in unfragmented blocks covering at least 50,000 ha; and even in the boreal region, more than 60% of the timber productive area has already been logged at least once [8,11,12]. These features result mainly from wood harvest and associated forest roads, but also from other ubiquitous activities like mining, oil and gas exploration and exploitation, hydroelectric power generation, agriculture, and hunting/fishing/trapping [13][14][15][16]. More than 40 years ago, the increasing northward human pressure led Hare and Ritchie [17] to state that "(p)erhaps within the next decade-and certainly within what is left of this century-the Boreal forest of North America (...) will be massively altered by economic invasion".…”