An ecozone is an area of Earth’s surface representing large, very generalized ecological units. Each ecozone is characterized by a unique interplay of geologic, climatic, vegetative, wildlife and human activity factors.
Canada has 20 ecozones: 15 terrestrial and 5 marine. The 15 terrestrial ecozones are further divided into 53 ecoprovinces, and those in turn are subdivided into 194 ecoregions.
Ecozones, ecoprovinces and ecoregions are useful units for reporting and planning purposes at, respectively, the national, provincial and regional levels.
Ecozones are the broadest classification type for forests
Acadian Forest RegionLocated in Quebec as well as the Maritime Provinces in Eastern Canada, and extends into the United States.
Boreal Forest RegionThe largest forest region in Canada. It is located in the north and contains about one-third of the world’s circumpolar boreal forests (also sometimes referred to as a snow forest).
Coast Forest RegionLocated on the west coast, this region is home to almost entirely coniferous trees such as the Douglas-fir, Sitka spruce, western hemlock, and western red cedar.
Columbia Forest RegionThis region is located between the Rocky Mountains and the central plateau in British Columbia.
Deciduous Forest RegionThis Canadian forest region is located between Lake Huron, Lake Ontario, and Lake Erie in southwestern Ontario.
Great Lakes – St. Lawrence Forest– This region is the second-largest forest region and is located from southeastern Manitoba to the Gaspé Peninsula.
Montane Forest Region – Located in the west of Canada, this region covers parts of the Kootenays, the central plateau of British Columbia, and a number of valleys close to Alberta’s border.
Subalpine Forest Region– This region is located in British Columbia and Alberta.
If you found out that at least $200 million of public funding went towards a single major corporation and its subsidiaries over the last few years, would you have questions about its operations? What if I told you they also managed 22 million hectares of forest across Canada [1]? Furthermore, what if they had global ties to a corporation with a documented track record of environmental and human rights violations [2]? Our brand new reports highlight the concerning lack of transparency and accountability surrounding the company that has been establishing itself as a logging giant across Canada for the last two decades: Domtar, formerly known as Paper Excellence and Resolute. Forests are living, breathing systems that sustain life, not just resources to be commodified. And now, with the Carney government giving natural resource lobbyists (those hired to speak on behalf of industry behind closed doors) so much access, pushing for transparency and accountability has never been more important [3].
These new reports trace Domtar’s extensive lobbying activity during a critical four-year period, when the company (operating under different names) was facing growing public scrutiny, attempting to silence us through legal action, and approaching a federal investigation [4, 5, 6]. Despite clear rebranding and a carefully crafted “green” image [7], serious transparency gaps remain. Domtar’s sole owner, Jackson Wijaya, has still not appeared before the House of Commons Committee—even after being formally requested to do so [8]. Canadians are being left in the dark about who truly controls the largest forestry company in the country [9] and what that control means for the future of forests and communities. What the reports reveal is deeply concerning: The research shows that as Domtar ramped up lobbying ahead of federal scrutiny, it received over $200 million in public funding while facing environmental penalties and mill closures—raising serious questions about transparency and public benefit. This all reveals a stark imbalance: vast amounts of political access and public money flowing to one company, with too little transparency in return—at a moment when Canada’s forests are already under intense pressure from industrial logging, old growth logging, biodiversity loss, and a rapidly changing climate [10, 11, 12].