Canfor mill closures leave B.C. communities eyeing difficult transitions

Vanderhoof is now pinning its hopes on the transition plans that Canfor and the B.C. government committed to to help with its ambitions to diversify its economy.

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Published Sep 05, 2024  •  4 minute read

A stack of lumber and sawdust piles are seen at Teal-Jones Group sawmill in Surrey on May 30, 2021. B.C.'s forests minister says the province's focus is on supporting the approximate 500 workers and the communities impacted by the closure of two northern B.C. sawmills. Photo by DARRYL DYCK /THE CANADIAN PRESS

Vanderhoof Mayor Kevin Moutray has watched the deteriorating conditions of B.C.’s forest industry gather like black clouds over the province’s central Interior for months, but it was still a shock to learn that Canfor Corp. will shutter its mill in his town of 4,500.

“Obviously, 260 direct jobs (lost), plus contractors, is a huge blow to families personally (to) their income,” Moutray said. “And from the municipal taxation side … it’s almost $900,000 (in) taxes that we’ll be missing from the budget.”

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However, “it’s a decision that we have anticipated, (and is the reason) we’ve worked hard on improving livability within the community,” Moutray said.

He added Vanderhoof is now pinning its hopes on the transition plans that Canfor and the B.C. government committed to to help Vanderhoof with its ambitions to diversify its economy.

On Wednesday, Canfor said it will close its Plateau mill in Vanderhoof and its Fort St. John operation, which would eliminate 500 jobs and remove 670 million board feet of annual production capacity.

The company blamed the closures on the challenge of accessing economically viable timber, as well as continuing financial losses and weak lumber markets, but said the final blow was the big increase in U.S. tariffs.

They become the second and third sawmills that Canfor has closed this year and the fourth since the start of 2023, which narrows some of the options for workers looking to transition to new jobs.

Canfor, working with the United Steelworkers, which represents many of its workers, will set up transition offices in both communities to work on “a comprehensive employee adjustment plan,” according to company executive Mina Laudan.

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There “may be opportunities for some employees” to move to other jobs, but “(we) are committed to assisting everyone impacted by this change the best we can,” Laudan, Canfor’s vice-president of corporate affairs, said in an email response to Postmedia questions.

Transition plans will include severance, help for employees to file for employment insurance or access other government services, and information about vacancies elsewhere in Canfor.

With the closures, however, United Steelworkers representative Jeff Bromley said opportunities within the company will be slimmer after the Plateau and Fort St. John mills wind down operations, leaving just its sawmill in Prince George running in northern B.C. Its remaining three mills are in the Kootenays.

“By the end of the year, if this holds out, they’re going to have no other mills in the north and that is an astounding figure for Canfor, which has been around for over 80 years,” Bromley said. “There’s no question, we’re in (an industry) down cycle, in terms of the ability to get a decent price for their products.”

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However, he’s pushing government to take away some of the timber harvesting rights that Canfor still holds if “they’re not going to provide a net benefit to the people of B.C. that own the resource.”

Bromley said that the severance provisions in the Steelworkers’ contract are generous enough that employees with service of longer than 30 years or are older than 55 can contemplate transitioning to retirement, especially if they can access transition funding the province has offered in previous rounds of mill closures.

Younger employees, those in their 30s, with less than 15 years of experience, face a more difficult decision, Bromley said.

Those in skilled trades have more transferable skills, he said. Production employees or equipment operators still have options, but many will be in mining where work tends to be in “fly-in-fly-out” operations, he added.

“It’s very difficult to relocate anywhere in B.C. right now because of the mortgage situation,” Bromley said. “Even in central B.C. Having a $500,000 or $600,000 house and then trying to find something in that range in another community, it’s not easy.”

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Forest Minister Bruce Ralston said the forest sector is a “foundational part” of the province and the government will work to support local jobs. He added that the province is focused on supporting the affected workers and is also working to increase access to fibre and support for made-in-B.C. wood manufacturing.

In Vanderhoof, Moutray said mining offers some opportunities for transition with Centerra Gold Inc.’s Mount Milligan mine 150 kilometres north of Vanderhoof and Artemis Gold Inc.’s Blackwater mine 108 km to its south.

But Vanderhoof has also been working hard to develop its agricultural sector and build on other value-added manufacturing in the community.

“Vanderhoof is a very resilient, entrepreneurial community and in the long-term economy, I’m sure we will get through this,” Moutray said.

However, a lot of major projects such as pipelines and B.C. Hydro’s Site C dam, are winding up and there are no new projects in the works to fill the void they’re going to leave, which further narrows options for transition, said Joel McKay, president of the Northern Development Initiative Trust.

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“We just do not have either the projects in the hopper or the reputation as an attractive jurisdiction for capital (investment),” McKay said. “In the absence of those things, it puts us into a more difficult position.”

With files from The Canadian Press

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