Interfor moves corporate functions from B.C. to U.S., union calls it a 'kick to the gut'

Interfor's Adams Lake sawmill, one of just three operations it has left in B.C. Photo by Interfor

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Burnaby-headquartered Interfor Corp., one of B.C.’s long-standing lumber giants, has told its employees that it will be moving most of its executive and back-office work to an office in the United States.

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The company didn’t indicate whether it would officially move its headquarters to the office in Georgia that Interfor established in 2014, but it comes after more than a decade of increasing its investments south of the border.

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The move is being made at the same time Canadian lumber producers remain weighed down by punitive duties under the Canada U.S. softwood lumber dispute and in a tough business environment for B.C. lumber producers.

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The Financial Post was the first to report the news of Interfor’s decision. A Post reporter was shown a memo from CEO Ian Fillinger to all employees informing them that the company would establish its Peachtree, Georgia, office, just outside Atlanta, as its “primary hub for corporate and functional support.”

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No time frame for the shift was set out in the memo, sent July 9, and there were no details about which jobs and functions or number of employees will move to the U.S., but in it Fillinger said no layoffs were planned as part of the process and the company will maintain “a continued West Coast presence.”

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Interfor’s Georgia office. Photo by Google Streetview

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Interfor did not respond to Postmedia requests for comment.

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News of the move came as a surprise to the union that represents about 250 Interfor’s workers at two of its three B.C. mills, as well as mills in Ontario.

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“I read it this morning while just camping on vacation at Skaha Lake (in the Okanagan) with my morning coffee,” said Jeff Bromley, wood council chair for the United Steelworkers.

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“I understand that they’ve built and purchased a number of operations in the States over the last 20 years,” Bromley added. “But at the end of the day, it’s still a kick in the gut.”

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Bromley noted that his union used to represent more than 1,000 Interfor workers in the company’s operations in B.C.’s coastal region where it was one of the biggest producers in the area. Interfor, however, sold off those operations in the early 2000s, while buying interior facilities and mills in Washington State.

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Now he is concerned other companies might follow suit.

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“It just gives you that other layer on top of the terrible news that the forest industry in Canada has been over the last decade,” Bromley said.

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On its website, Interfor characterizes itself as a top three lumber producer in North America with 28 facilities across the continent. However B.C., where the company was founded, now represents just 17 per cent of Interfor’s capacity to mill 4.4 billion board feet a year.

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A May 2026 corporate presentation indicated that 58 per cent of its operations are in the U.S. between the Southeast and Pacific Northwest. The remaining 42 per cent are split among B.C., Eastern and Atlantic Canada.