The IWA-Forest Industry Pension Plan was established by FIR and The IWA in 1972 negotiations and in 1978, the Southern and Northern Interior Plans were merged into the FIR-IWA Plan to create the existing industry wide, provincial plan.

The three founding associations (FIR, CONIFER, and IFLRA) and the Union (now the USW) are the "Settlors" of the pension trust and are responsible for appointing the trustees, (in equal numbers for management and the Union) who oversee and govern the Plan. The Trustees, in turn, direct the IWA Forest Industry Pension Administration Office ,which does all administration and has all contact with the pension plan membership.

The Trustees perform their governance duties through Full Board meetings, but also through the following subcommittees of the Board: Governance Committee, Investment Committee, Audit Committee, and Human Resources Committee.

The Plan is one of the largest private sector pension plans in Canada with assets of about $3.8 billion (as of March, 2017) and has about 400 participating employers and 70,000 members (including actives, deferred and pensioners.)

The Plan has a full time staff and offices at in Burnaby. Chief Executive Officer is Mark Guiton; Chief Investment Officer is Ms. Colleen Troelstrup.

The current contribution rate is $3.675/hr. by the employer and $2.225/hr. by the employee, payable on all hours worked.

The IWA Forest Industry Pension Plan is now recognized by the BC Pension Benefits Standard Act as a Target Benefit Pension Plan rather than a true "Defined Benefit "type plan. Under this type of plan, contributions are determined through collective bargaining and the employer's legal responsibility is limited to paying the contributions set forth in the collective agreement. The Trustees make their "best effort" to see that the plan is run in such a way that the targeted pension benefits will be adequately funded. If those contributions and the return on investments ultimately prove insufficient to pay for the benefit targeted,the trustees would have to consider reducing the benefit level.(In a true Defined Benefit type plan,the Plan Sponsor would be required to increase its contributions and would not have an option to reduce benefits.). For more details on this, please access the Pension Plan website at www.iwafibp.ca

The Plan issues a very informative Annual Report containing the Plan's financial statements. This annual report is available at www.iwafibp.ca