As National Forest Week is celebrated across the country, Forest Products Association of Canada (FPAC) is seizing the opportunity to announce the recipients of its annual Awards of Excellence program. Today, FPAC announced that Janet Lane of Domtar Corporation in Dryden, Ontario and Marc Bédard of Resolute Forest Products in Montreal are recipients of the Lifetime Achievement Award.
The Lifetime Achievement Award is presented to current or former industry leaders who have made exceptional, sustained and significant contributions to the forest products sector.
“FPAC introduced the Lifetime Achievement Award as a means to pay tribute to the incredible people who have made it their life’s work to drive Canadian forestry forward,” said FPAC President and CEO Derek Nighbor. “The unwavering vision and leadership of Janet and Marc over the course of their respective careers has been an inspiration to the companies and individuals that were fortunate to work with them.”
Janet Lane says forests have always been part of her life. “I grew up sliding down a sawdust pile and mingling with bush workers at the family sawmill near Slave Lake, Alberta, picking white spruce cones for Christmas money with my family and then tree planting for seven years,” recalls Janet. It was only natural that she would choose forestry as a career. After graduating from the University of Alberta with a BSc, she went to work for the Alberta Forest Service as a Research Forester before moving on to Weyerhaeuser as a silviculture forester and Renewal Manager. She then moved to Armstrong, BC as Renewal Coordinator before transferring to Dryden, Ontario to take the position of Enhanced Forest Management Leader and would retire from Domtar in June of 2021 as Sustainable Forestry Team Leader after 36 years in the profession.
“I have been privileged to work a meaningful profession that strives to meet society’s needs while maintaining ecological balance of the forest,” said Lane. “I am truly honored to receive this award.”
Marc Bédard has been a long-standing ambassador for sustainable forestry in Canada on behalf of Resolute and the entire Canadian forest sector. Throughout his 35-year career with Resolute, Marc has held almost every position in the forestry profession – including forester in planning, superintendent and director for forestry operations, sawmill manager, and regional director. He was most recently the Vice-President of Forestry at Resolute, based in Montreal and has been a long standing and active member of the FPAC Forestry Committee. Marc helped implement many of the company's first third-party certification initiatives for forestry practices, including ISO 14000, CSA–Z809, Sustainable Forestry Initiative® and Forest Stewardship Council®.
“I am very grateful to receive this Lifetime Achievement Award. I will cherish it, particularly because it comes from colleagues who I greatly respect,” said Bedard. “I also want to thank Resolute for submitting my name for this honour and above all for giving me the career of a lifetime. Throughout my nearly 35-year career with Resolute, I have focused on addressing misconceptions about forestry and on advancing our industry’s leadership on sustainability matters. While we will always need to combat misconceptions about our industry, we must seize the opportunity to help Canadians understand how sustainable forests are part of the solution to climate change.”
To learn more about FPAC’s Awards of Excellence recipients, please visit: https://www.fpac.ca/posts/fpac-awards-of-excellence
FPAC provides a voice for Canada’s wood, pulp, and paper producers nationally and internationally in government, trade, and environmental affairs. As an industry with annual revenues exceeding $80B, Canada’s forest products sector is one of the country’s largest employers operating in over 600 communities, providing 230,000 direct jobs, and over 600,000 indirect jobs across the country.
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