Community Involvement
Resolute Forest Products believes it is essential to have meaningful engagement and partnerships with a wide range of stakeholders and others, including customers, employees, Indigenous Peoples, non-governmental organizations (NGOs), business partners, governments, elected officials and members of the general public.
In addition to engaging in dialogue and establishing partnerships, we strive to have a positive and meaningful impact in the local and regional communities where we operate, in part by supporting many registered charitable organizations each year and volunteering our time. We are committed to ensuring that all of our operations report their engagement activities consistently and transparently, while maintaining ongoing outreach with stakeholders to determine the shared priorities that inform our public commitments and sustainability strategy.
In 2022, we set longer-term targets for 2026 to support organizations in our operating communities, including a commitment to donate at least $1 million to charitable community organizations through the Safety Award program, and contributing at least $5 million to community and academic organizations across all operations.
Supporting Dialogue in the Communities Where We Operate
Through our information-sharing program, for example, we build and maintain strong relationships with community leaders in our operating locations. These groups meet regularly to provide a forum for discussing a range of issues of mutual interest to participants – from harvest area allocation and energy conservation to controls for noise pollution.
For more information on how Resolute engages with stakeholders, visit our Engaging in Dialogue page. For information about the sustainability issues that we define as ‘material’ and that influence our sustainability reporting, please visit our Shared Priorities page.
Lasting Collaboration with Indigenous Communities
We also focus on developing constructive relationships with Indigenous Peoples, with whom we work collaboratively to ensure that our forests continue to provide for future generations. Key to facilitating this partnership is continuous dialogue with First Nations chiefs, band councils and elders in our operating communities.
We have ongoing consultative relationships and business partnerships with close to 40 Indigenous communities and organizations. For more information, please visit our Collaborations with Indigenous Peoples page.
Measuring Our Local Impact
Our operations are located in Canada and the United States where they are often anchors of the local economy. Our employees support and participate in local community life, and we work with community leaders to understand local issues and concerns. Resolute’s deep commitment to the prosperity of its operating communities is one of the four pillars of the company’s sustainability strategy.
We track and report on a number of key performance indicators related to the direct and indirect economic impacts of our activities, and the benefits of our community engagement and philanthropic initiatives are provided on our Corporate Philanthropy page. For information on our academic support, please visit our Research Partnerships page.