March 18, 2025 Gatineau, Quebec Natural Resources Canada
Today, the Honourable Jonathan Wilkinson, Minister of Energy and Natural Resources, along with the Honourable Steven Guilbeault, Minister of Canadian Culture and Identity, Parks Canada and Quebec Lieutenant, announced more than $16 million in funding for four tree-planting projects that will bring environmental, health and social benefits to both urban and rural communities across the province of Quebec.
The City of Gatineau and the City of Saint-Jean-sur-Richelieu are receiving funding for urban tree-planting projects that will plant new trees on public lands, helping to capture carbon, increase biodiversity and cool areas vulnerable to extreme heat.
With the funding announced today, the City of Gatineau will:
- increase its urban tree canopy to 30 percent by planting 80,000 new trees in all the city's communities over the next six years;
- establish urban forests that will help improve air and soil quality, support biodiversity and contribute to the health and well-being of citizens; and
- create five new jobs in the region, as well as long-term contracts for forest maintenance over the years.
The City of Saint-Jean-sur-Richelieu will carry out its own tree-planting project that will:
- plant 70,000 new trees and increase its urban tree canopy to 20 percent, with the longer-term goal of 30-percent tree cover;
- beautify the city by planting trees and establishing micro-forests along roadways, riverbanks and in existing forests; and
- sequester carbon while increasing the city's resilience to the effects of climate change.
Two more federally funded projects across the province will contribute toward reforestation and afforestation in rural areas of Quebec:
- Harpur Farm LTD is receiving funds to plant 251,000 trees in western Quebec, afforesting more than 208 acres of marginal lands and reforesting 41 acres in degraded woodlands. In collaboration with Nature Conservancy Canada, this project will expand the critical Plaisance-Tremblant ecological corridor, to allow wildlife to move freely north-south and will establish multi-species forests with edible forest products such as nuts, acorns, fruit and maple syrup.
- Pepinière Forestière Tshitassinu is receiving funds to develop a 100-percent automated, Indigenous-led tree nursery in Mashteuiatsh, Lac-Saint Jean, that will be able to produce more than 10 million seedlings per year. The proponent will set up 30 state-of-the-art greenhouses to produce seedlings to reforest the boreal forest.
These projects are being supported in part by Canada's 2 Billion Trees (2BT) program. This program is dedicated to working with governments and organizations across the country to support the expansion of Canada's forests while creating sustainable jobs in communities.
