Practices and Perspectives

Paper Excellence established a large-scale fibre-supply arrangement with a First Nations partner in 2021, through its acquisition of an interest in the Atli Chip Limited Partnership. Atli Chip has purchased and now operates a wood chipping facility on Northern Vancouver Island, in ‘Namgis First Nation’s traditional territory.

Atli Chip is majority owned by Atli Resources LP, a forest company beneficially owned by the ‘Namgis. Island-based Wahkash Contracting Ltd. specializes in remote coastal logging – the kind of operations that supply wood to Atli Chip – and like Paper Excellence it also holds a direct minority ownership stake in Atli Chip.

Paper Excellence has contracted to purchase all of Atli Chip’s wood chip and biomass fuel production. The participants in this arrangement will also collaborate to improve wood utilization in areas harvested to supply Atli Chip – ensuring more of it gets to the chipping facility – and to expand Indigenous participation in the resulting economic opportunities.

“We are very excited about the opportunity for Atli Chip Limited Partnership to take over operations of this facility to meet the growing needs of the industry and to acquire a business that we believe will have long-term economic and environmental benefits for the ‘Namgis people and the North Island as a whole.” – ‘Namgis Chief Councilor Don Svanvik