In Canada, forest policy is most often conceived as a sectoral policy. The role of the state and of industrial holders of public forest licences is central, offering little space for territorial actors. However, in Quebec and New Brunswick, we have seen the emergence of regional institutions that participate in forest governance. Does this change in scale amount to a desectorialisation of power in forestry and therefore a transformation of the role of the State in public forests? Based on the work on rescaling and neo-regionalism, these institutions are presented as stemming from the logic of downscaling in Quebec or upscaling in New Brunswick, and the ambiguous role of the state is questioned. In the course of its sectoral policies, the latter proves to be in turn a promoter and a hindrance to the emergence of a territorial forest governance.