BC Made

Much of BC's timber has left the province as lower-value material, taking the value and the jobs with it. BC Made was produced for the BC Ministry of Forests to profile the other direction: companies turning wood into higher-value products here at home.

The film visits three of them. Ron Anderson and Sons in Chemainus, on Vancouver Island, builds prefabricated housing panels that make construction faster and more efficient. Richply, a co-operative in Richmond, uses AI and robotics to patch defects and turn lower-grade timber into higher-grade plywood. Woodtone Specialties, north of Vernon, makes engineered wood products.

Together the three stories describe a forest sector that harvests less and does more with it, keeping meaningful work in mill communities and using the resource with more care. Salmonberry Studios directed, shot and edited the film as part of a larger contract with the ministry. It was shared by the Minister of Forests, screened at conferences and events, and published on the Government of British Columbia's YouTube channel, reaching people across the forest sector who work on this issue.