If the name Domtar doesn’t ring a bell, that’s by design. Previously known as Paper Excellence, the company committed many of the environmental and ethical violations discussed on this website. In October 2024, anticipating that their past might catch up with them, they rebranded, adopting the name of a Canadian company they had acquired, now used as a façade. Thus, Paper Excellence—the environmentally harmful corporation with a contentious history that even pressured the Canadian government—transformed into “Domtar,” the seemingly respectable Canadian brand with a clean slate.
This form of greenwashing is common among companies looking to bury their history, but it’s just one part of their efforts to obscure their actions.
- THE TRUTH ABOUT DOMTAR
Domtar, a paper and pulp giant supposedly owned by one man, Jackson Wijaya, and based in British Columbia, is not what it seems. The time has come for Canadians to realize that, and start taking action to defend our land, our forests and our people.
For years, Domtar claimed to be an independent company, run by Canadians, while the truth, according to multiple reports by such organizations as Greenpeace and the International Consortium of International Journalists, is that Domtar was always just one tentacle of a deforestation empire spanning the entire globe, which hid its identity through shell corporations in order to operate in Canada.
In fact, they came just short of admitting that fact, when Jackson Wijaya suddenly decided that he would personally take over Asia Pulp & Paper, another company in the group, as well as Paper Excellence, effectively joining Domtar to the rest of the deforestation empire.
The name of this empire? The Sinar Mas Group.
This group of companies, centered around the nucleus of Sinar Mas itself, was founded by chinese born Ekta Widjaya when he immigrated to Indonesia, and has remained in the family since, though it has grown to enormous proportions, even despite numerous and well documented crimes against the environment and native communities wherever they operate.
Under the Sinar Mas umbrella several companies were founded, such Asia Pulp & Paper and Golden AgriResousers, and others were bought, like the formerly Australian owned mining company Stanmore, yet Domtar seems a case all to itself, denying any relationship with the group, despite being owned and controlled by the grandson of Ekta.
As if that wasn’t enough, its employees also work for Sinar Mas companies, and it has even used the Sinar Mas letterhead, and yet it lied for years that it wass its own company, all the while being coordinated from within the same WhatsApp group as all the rest.
Now that they’ve admitted to the truth, they act like nothing happened, because to them, and others like them, lying is just a part of the act.
That is the truth about Domtar: plain and simple. The very existence and ownership of the group is a lie, revealed extensively by NGOs operating in Canada, but the question remains: why?
The Sinar Mas Group has a record of broken promises, environmental destruction and shady dealings with powerful influence brokers, which has made their name known among environmentalists worldwide, uncovering a legacy which Domtar looks to hide by dissociating itself from its de facto parent company, giving them a clean slate to operate in Canada without the scrutiny NGOs have rightly applied to the Indonesian conglomerate.
This lack of scrutiny has meant that Domtar’s scandalous past and shady operations have for a long time been unknown to most Canadians, a reality which is starting to change with a spate of investigations into the company which nearly cost them their environmental certification, though it was saved by clever maneuvering in the last minute.
MP Charlie Angus is one of the people at the forefront of inquiries into Domtar, pressuring them to admit the company’s true ownership.
Take Down Domtar wants to be a part of this story, hoping to bring those responsible for this immense amount of damage to the world’s rainforests to account, and uncover what Domtar’s executives have spent so much to hide. The dark story behind Domtar cannot be allowed to continue in our country, especially not when the power to stop them is in our hands. Now is the time to Take Down Domtar.
- THE CHINESE GOVERNMENT
DOMTAR AND THE CHINESE GOVERNMENT
The story of chinese influence in Canada has been a point of national focus for our country for some time, and with good reason, having made life harder for Canadians in all parts of our great country and abroad, as in the case of Michael Spavrig and Michael Kovrig, arrested in China for the crime of being canadian in a time when our government finally started to stand up to the Communist Party, though not all of it wants to.
All over our nation, people are feeling the effects of this influence. In cities like Vancouver and Toronto, Chinese investors have played a prominent role in driving up property prices, pricing out ordinary Canadians, while Chinese state-owned enterprises and private firms have made high-profile acquisitions of Canadian companies and put them out of jobs. These companies, which slowly lose their identity and all ties which made them familiar to Canadians, have come to represent a Chinese bloc in our politics, using influence politics and lobbying to make sure Beijing gets its way, whatever the cost.
There are people in Canada who benefit more from China’s friendship, whatever the cost. The common people do not.
Could that be the case with Domtar?
There is no way to say for sure, but the ties between the Sinar Mas Conglomerate, Domtar and the Chinese government are suspicious: Jackson Wijaya was a director of Ever Dragon, an investment group that owns 100% of Sinar Mas in China, where no company can operate without government intervention, making it safe to assume the CCP is at least aware of their operations. This same Sinar Mas China is also financially connected to Domtar, to which it made a suspicious loan in 2010. This loan, uncovered in the Greenpeace report, was made by International Bank Ningbo, a Sinar Mas China subsidiary, and demonstrated clear favoritism towards Domtar by offering interest rates significantly below the market level, tying the indonesian company’s China branch directly to Canada and Domtar.
How Long Before the Communist Party Uses Domtar to Exploit Canada's Resources?
With our pristine woodlands and vast land mass, Canada has always been an attractive target for Chinese land-grabbing, even more so now, in a time when the CCP is “preparing for war”, and looking to shore up its position with strategic corporate acquisitions and land purchases in western countries, where they can get easy access to the West’s resources, and our people.
Domtar’s Dangerous Game: Monopoly
The list of despicable activities perpetrated by Domtar sadly does not end with lying and cheating the Canadian people, nor with destroying our environment: there is one other dangerous game they’re attempting to pull off, which would give them control of the whole Canadian forestry market, letting them name their prices on all wood and paper goods and run their competition out of business: monopoly.
Having spent the last years buying up all its competition and swallowing as much Canadian land as it could (no doubt with incentives from the Chinese government), Domtar now control 22 million hectares of Canadian forestland, and is solely responsible for 20 percent of our country’s output of pulp and paper mill capacity. Though that may not immediately sound like much, the sheer volume controlled by Domtar is 50 percent larger than its closest rival, the Canadian company Canfor, one of the few which has resisted Jackson Wijaya’s buying spree.
This overwhelming measure of control, gained quickly and without any significant oversight from the government, can spell doom for the rest of the market, which might soon have to dance to Domtar’s tune, if they get big enough to corner the competition, which, if they are allowed to officially merge with the Sinar Mas Group, they will.
Though Domtar has been a part of the Sinar Mas Group since they were called Paper Excellence, and Jackson Wijaya’s position as CEO always meant they were effectively one single company, Domtar’s nominal independence made it so they couldn’t officially join up to bully the rest of the market, and Domtar couldn’t have easy access to the conglomerate’s resources, which they would’ve used to buy up the rest of Canada’s forestry industry. With Jackson taking over Asia Pulp & Paper, that’s about to change.
But this challenge is also an opportunity, because the European Union, in charge of overseeing the merger since Paper Excellence was officially based in the Netherlands, has presented us with the chance to show our strength and oppose this merger, keeping our forests safe, and Domtar accountable.
If you are interested in voicing your opposition to keep Sinar Mas out of Canada, and start the chain of events which ends with Domtar facing the consequences for their actions, and a safer, greener and cleaner Canada, write to this email address.
- WHAT YOU CAN DO
WHAT YOU CAN DO
The battle against these companies can seem impossible, but we believe the little guy can always win, if we are organized, and inspired enough to do it.
If you want to be part of this struggle, start by getting informed: learn all you can about Domtar, Sinar Mas, and all the shady actors who think they can operate in Canada without any regard for Canadians.
Then, get active! Using social media and online voting records, find out how your MPs voted on important issues regarding our country’s land and water resources,, and don’t be afraid to write them: they work for you. Find the full list of their e-mail addresses here.
To help others already in this fight, make sure to sign the Greenpeace petition to Protect our Forests here and write to your MP using the button below
- ABOUT TAKE DOWN DOMTAR
Take Down Domtar
Take Down Domtar is a collective effort, born out of the exasperation of a group of people tired of seeing big companies like Domtar act like they are above the law, and worst of all, seeming to get away with it.
That stops now.
You can count on us to keep fighting this battle. Can we count on you?
