The Forest Stewardship Council of Canada recently had some rare words of praise for the Canadian paper packaging industry! “Here in Canada,’’ wrote President and CEO Francois Dufresne in a blog, “our packaging industry uses the largest portion of recycled fibres of any forestry sector – an important element of responsible forest management, and an incredible achievement for which we commend the Canadian packaging industry.”

Well thank you, we’ll take it. And we recognise that FSC has every right to inform Canadian consumers about how packaging materials are sourced within Canada and about forestry practices around the world. The problem is how that message is conveyed to the public.

Unfortunately, FSC’s most recent attempt just serves to smear the industry. A promotional video on its website claims a link between packaging and deforestation. No credible evidence of such a link is offered. In fact, the Canadian industry is not responsible for any deforestation in Canada. Will FSC advise Canadian millennials of this fact? I think we’ll be waiting a while.

FSC uses a visual image of an ugly clear-cut in its video to symbolise ‘nasty’ deforestation. But somehow the fact that it receives money from companies that use clear-cutting to harvest the forest doesn’t get mentioned. Oops! A little conflict there, no?

Poor Forestry Practices

And as for the ‘’poor forestry practices’ it alleges, the video somehow neglects to acknowledge that Canada leads the world in forest certified as sustainably managed, and that most Canadian packaging mills already have responsible sourcing (chain-of-custody) certification by independent third parties.

We live in a world of social media and instant impressions where nobody likes to be unfairly smeared. If FSC wants to be a credible source of information to its packaging customers, and to the public in general, it needs to clean up its act and be far more precise in its public offerings and claims. Facts and credibility do matter.