The B.C. government has turned down a petition to investigate Canada’s largest forestry company at a time when a federal probe into the firm faces the prospect of total collapse.
On December 2, 2024, the national Standing Committee on Natural Resources unanimously passed a motion summoning Paper Excellence owner Jackson Wijaya to testify before lawmakers—an order that was enforceable with a legal subpoena if necessary.
The company has rapidly expanded its footprint in recent years, buying up several Canadian public forestry companies—including Domtar and Resolute Forest Products—in multibillion-dollar deals that gave them control of more than 22 million hectares of forest.
Now the largest private manager of forests in Canada, Paper Excellence currently owns 42 pulp, paper and sawmills across Canada, the U.S., Brazil and France.
Canada launched a federal probe into the company in the spring of 2023 shortly after an investigation by the International Consortium of Investigative Journalists (ICIJ) found evidence of a network of overlapping employees, ownership links and business ties connecting the Canadian-headquartered company with Asia Pulp and Paper (APP)—a conglomerate alleged to have carried out widespread deforestation, illegal logging and human rights abuses.
Presented with findings from the 2023 ICIJ investigation, both companies denied any connections with one another. But in November 2024, a submission to the European Commission revealed Wijaya was officially expanding his ownership over both APP and Paper Excellence—recently re-branded Domtar.
A Domtar spokesperson said Teguh Ganda Wijaya—APP’s current chair and Jackson Wijaya’s father—appointed his son as a successor and that the timing was unforeseen. The younger Wijaya won’t hold any leadership position within APP and both companies will operate independently, the spokesperson added.
Wijaya’s expanded control over the two companies could have serious financial repercussions. APP took a hit to its brand in 2007 when the Forest Stewardship Council (FSC) disassociated from the Asian conglomerate over concerns of deforestation.
News of Wijaya’s pending control over APP prompted several environmental groups to call on the FSC to “immediately terminate” Domtar’s sustainability certificates in accordance with the group’s policy of association.
In response, the FSC said it would launch “a rigorous legal review” to evaluate the implications of Wijaya’s consolidated ownership and what it means for its policy of association.
Charlie Angus, the NDP’s natural resources critic and member of Parliament for Timmins–James Bay, said Wijaya’s expanded ownership over APP represents a break down in government oversight.
“I think what’s really clear is that Canadians were played for suckers by Paper Excellence and the Wijaya clan,” Angus said. “And all our federal and provincial officials who went along with it failed the Canadian public.”
Federal investigation on razor’s edge
The December motion to summon Wijaya had represented a win for Angus, who had been a driving force behind the call to investigate the company.
But on January 6, the probe came to a grinding halt when Prime Minister Justin Trudeau announced he would resign to make way for a new Liberal Party leader, and prorogued Parliament. That act wiped out the work of all parliamentary committees, including the motion to summon Wijaya.
Angus said it’s unlikely the committee would receive enough support to reopen the investigation given the “toxicity” of Parliament.
Member of Parliament Shannon Stubbs, Conservative shadow minister of natural resources, did not respond to repeated requests for comment.
The prospect of reviving the federal investigation is made even less likely by the fact that, last year, Angus signalled his intentions not to seek re-election after serving 20 years in federal politics.
“If we go to an election in March, I will cease to be a member of Parliament,” Angus said.
“This parliamentary committee will be dissolved, and all the work that we’ve done will be, well, it’ll be there in the history books.”
Calls to investigate company in B.C.
Angus said he has spoken to people in B.C. communities who are worried about Paper Excellence’s long-term intentions, including the future of pulp mills, the environmental record of the company’s Asian counterpart and whether Canadian operations would be set up as a “fibre pipeline for China.”
“Questions do need to be answered, and if they can’t be answered at the federal level, then I think it’s vital that they’re answered in other Canadian jurisdictions where forestry is important,” he said.
As the federal probe into Domtar falters, some in B.C. are calling on the province to step up. In December, members of the Kamloops–North Thompson NDP electoral district association renewed its request to B.C. Minister of Forests Ravi Parmar that the province carry out its own examination of the company.
“There’s a history there of abandoning communities,” said association president Rick Turner. “There’s got to be a probe into this. Just who the heck are they and what are their interests?”
In particular, the group called on Parmar to scrutinize how Paper Excellence lobbied government, the outcome of those lobbying efforts and how much money the company has given to industry lobbyist groups.
In recent years, Paper Excellence has directly sent or hired a number of lobbyists to petition federal and provincial governments, including former BC NDP president Moe Sihota and the daughter of former premier John Horgan’s top strategist.
More than a dozen people representing Paper Excellence sought to influence the province or members of the legislative assembly nearly 50 times over the last year, according to B.C.’s lobbyist registry.
That includes the company’s latest senior lobbyist, Sugiarto Kardiman, an individual who has served as a business director on Paper Excellence’s Canadian mills and early numbered companies going back to 2007, documents show.
Over the last six years, Paper Excellence has requested nearly $250 million in B.C. government funding. And between Victoria and Ottawa, the company has received nearly $103 million in funding over that same period. Paper Excellence has received hundreds of millions of dollars more from other jurisdictions, according to official records examined by BIV and ICIJ partners.
B.C. urges feds to re-start investigation
At least one provincial lawmaker says the allegations surrounding Paper Excellence have raised concerns.
Jeremy Valeriote, the recently elected BC Green MLA for West Vancouver–Sea to Sky, said his party’s agreement to back the current government includes limiting unchecked corporate power in the province’s natural resource sector. Valeriote said he would endorse a B.C. probe into Paper Excellence’s lobbying practices.
“BC Greens support B.C. investigating this issue if the federal government is unable to do so in a timely manner,” said Valeriote.
The European Commission filing showing Wijaya’s intention to seek ownership over APP—a Sino-Indonesian conglomerate—was submitted less than a week after Canada and Indonesia signed a free trade pact.
Now, B.C. is eyeing expanded trade ties with Asia amid threats of U.S. tariffs. Last week, Premier David Eby said it was time to reconsider the 2019 closure of 13 trade offices across Asia that helped promote B.C. wood products.
When asked if B.C.’s Ministry of Forests would heed calls to launch its own investigation into Paper Excellence, a spokesperson deferred to the federal government.
“It’s disappointing that proceedings in Ottawa were interrupted before the committee were able to talk with Mr. Wijaya…” the statement added. “…we urge them to do so when Parliament resumes.”
The spokesperson did not acknowledge BIV’s requests to interview the minister.
Canada’s Competition Bureau, for its part, has repeatedly investigated and cleared Paper Excellence’s acquisitions. Past investigations determined there was “insufficient evidence” to conclude Paper Excellence’s previous acquisitions would threaten competition in Canada, even if a significant interest exists between Paper Excellence and APP, said spokesperson Jennifer Faulkner.
“As the Bureau is required to conduct its work in private, I am unable to confirm whether the Bureau is investigating the consolidated ownership of Domtar/Paper Excellence and Asia Pulp and Paper,” she said.
Garry Worth, a member of the Kamloops–North Thompson riding association and a long-time mill worker in Port Alberni and Kamloops, said he has lived the forestry industry’s ups and downs for decades.
Current political realities, he said, make it more than appropriate for B.C. to get involved. But he worries delays have already sunk chances to get a transparent account of Paper Excellence’s operations.
“It’s a lot bigger than one province,” Worth said of the company’s growth. “It’s Canada-wide, it’s North American-wide. It’s now almost worldwide with Jackson [Wijaya] taking over Asia Pulp and Paper.
“When I see a company taking over this much control… I don’t know exactly what can be done. It might be too late.”
