American paper product companies must be more responsible with their use of Ontario’s forests

When the Government of Ontario announced its Forest Sector Strategy in August 2020, the state of our democracy in Ontario became crystal clear. The Province is prepared to nearly double the amount of industrial logging in Ontario while completing dismissing our collective concerns about how that could harm wildlife and waters. We feared that the Strategy could be used to further an agenda of environmental deregulation. Changes are already underway (or approved) to lengthen the time between independent forest audits, and to "remove red tape" associated with how the Environmental Assessment Act and Endangered Species Act apply to forestry, among ...

When the Government of Ontario announced its Forest Sector Strategy in August 2020, the state of our democracy in Ontario became crystal clear. The Province is prepared to nearly double the amount of industrial logging in Ontario while completing dismissing our collective concerns about how that could harm wildlife and waters. We feared that the Strategy could be used to further an agenda of environmental deregulation. Changes are already underway (or approved) to lengthen the time between independent forest audits, and to "remove red tape" associated with how the Environmental Assessment Act and Endangered Species Act apply to forestry, among other deregulation.

The issue is not so much what is in the Strategy, but rather what is missing, and the vagueness around what is meant by seemingly innocuous statements such as “remove barriers to accessing wood”. Which barriers? Indigenous environmental and health advocates? Environmental organizations? Remote tourism operators? Wild food foragers? The removal of these “barriers” began with the Province's consultation process to develop the Strategy, which was invite-only.

We asked the government to share the forest. With the massive surplus of forest that has not been logged over the past 10–20 years due to market factors, this government had an unprecedented opportunity to support Indigenous and local communities that are moving forward with conservation initiatives, and commit to protecting more wildlife habitat and non-timber forest values. Instead, the government chose to prioritize industrial forestry uses above all other uses, and may have closed the door to conservation opportunities.

If the Government of Ontario won’t listen, we believe it’s time to talk directly with the companies purchasing wood fibre from our forests. To start, we’ve chosen Procter & Gamble, the largest consumer of Ontario pulp and one of the most influential producers of disposable products that use pulp from Ontario forests. Procter & Gamble produces thousands of types of household products, including Charmin toilet paper, Bounty paper towels, Pampers diapers, Bounce dryer sheets, and Swiffer dusters.

Please sign our letter for Mr. David Taylor, calling on Procter & Gamble to protect the habitat of species at risk, purchase from companies that obtain Free, Prior and Informed Consent from Indigenous people, increase the amount of post-consumer recycled content, and source from FSC-certified forests.

Old-growth red pines © Noah Cole

+

image of American paper product companies must be more responsible with their use of Ontario’s forests

Call on Procter & Gamble to protect wildlife habitat and support Indigenous-led conservation

1,759 emails sent

Your name will be added to this letter, which will be sent to:

Mr. David Taylor, CEO, Procter & Gamble
Virginie Helias, Chief Sustainability Officer, Procter & Gamble

Where do you live?

Compose your email

Name

Email

Phone

Invalid phone number

Subject:

Dear Mr. David Taylor,

CC: Virginie Helias,

Despite assurances you may be hearing, the Government of Ontario has been undertaking a massive deregulation campaign which is undermining the oversight, protection and citizen input for decisions impacting public lands in Ontario.

I am concerned about the dual crises of climate change and biodiversity loss. Now is the time to protect more forests, waterways and wildlife, not to reduce government oversight over habitat fragmentation and destruction. Ontario wants to almost double the amount currently logged in the province over the next decade, turning a blind eye to significant sustainability issues, such as the decline of boreal caribou, the loss of remaining old growth ecosystems, (e.g. Eastern hemlock), and the concerns raised by Indigenous communities regarding ongoing mercury pollution and glyphosate spraying.

We understand that our forests are important for providing products like toilet paper and other disposable paper products. However, we need to transition to more sustainable means of production, respect Indigenous rights and protect biodiversity.

We ask that you do the following:

Require that the companies providing pulp for your products protect habitat for species at risk. For example, where forest tenures overlap with boreal caribou habitat, companies must ensure their operations meet or exceed the requirements stated in the federal Boreal Caribou Recovery Strategy (2012, amended 2019). Currently, 8 years after the Recovery Strategy was released, most do not.

Require that the companies you purchase from adopt approaches to Free, Prior and Informed Consent with Indigenous communities as outlined in the United Nations Declaration on the Rights of Indigenous Peoples.

Shift demand to recycled content for single-use pulp products by communicating those benefits with your customers to increase the amount of post-consumer recycled content. Reduce your harvest of new trees, particularly from primary (unlogged) forests, to provide pulp for your products.

Source pulp only from forests that are Forest Stewardship Council certified. Additionally, require those companies to work with the provincial government to permanently protect candidate protected areas as identified by that certification process.

Procter & Gamble is one of the largest purchasers of pulp from Ontario’s forests. You have tremendous influence both in your marketing and your sourcing to help shift industrial logging in Ontario towards a more sustainable approach. We are looking to you to be part of the solution by protecting wildlife habitat and supporting Indigenous-led conservation initiatives. Will you show leadership on these issues?

Sincerely,

How we use the data you enter on this form

Do Gooder (the advocacy platform powering this online action) processes personal information from you that you enter on this form so that we can provide the functions and related services to you and The Campaigner (the organisation responsible for this online action) for their legitimate purposes, including possibly exporting it to other systems, and to effectively respond to enquiries and communications related to those services.

Specifically when you enter:

Your location data (residential address or postcode) it is used to locate your elected representative, to pre-populate your email signature and to provide The Campaigner with a visualisation of the location of the support for this campaign.
All other data you may enter, including your email address, name, telephone number, commentary and so on is used by The Campaigner to advocate for the campaign’s goals and where required may be sent to the target of the campaign.

The data collected by Do Gooder is also used by us in aggregate form to improve the service and may be held on your behalf outside your country of residence by our third party service providers. These providers are bound by contract to only use personal information on our behalf, in accordance with agreed terms. While the privacy laws of the country in which personal information is stored or transferred may be different from those in your country, we will always have safeguards in place when storing or transferring personal information. We will never sell, rent, loan or in any other way pass your information on to other parties other than to provide this service to you and The Campaigner.

The personal information collected by Do Gooder is held subject to a Data Processing Agreement between Do Gooder and The Campaigner in compliance with the EU's GDPR and Australian law.

Learn more about our privacy policy here

How is my data used?