Fraser Lake leaders hold emergency meeting to deal with sawmill closure

Fraser Lake Mayor Sarrah Storey was blindsided and her north-central B.C. village is in shock after Monday’s announcement that West Fraser Timber Ltd. has decided to permanently close its local sawmill.

“It was talked about and it was something we were worried about, but we kept being reassured that it wouldn’t happen for a very long time and we were in a good place, even though it was a tough place to be in,” said Storey.

The decision to shutter the mill comes after curtailments that in July 2019 forced it to reduce its workforce from three to two shifts. Then in October 2022 another 77 positions were chopped, reducing operations to one single shift.

“Going down to one shift was really tough and we were worried and concerned, but it was kind of like, ‘we’ll get through this and we’re going to keep plugging away and hopefully we’ll be OK,” said Storey.

“I think everybody hoped for that.”

The mill, which opened in 1977, has 177 workers and is the largest employer in Fraser Lake, a village of about 1,000 people 158 kilometres west of Prince George.

But it’s not just direct employees of the mill who will be affected when it shuts down in May. The sawmill provides work for tradespeople, equipment operators, equipment owners, and supports retail stores and service industries in the region.

Losing the mill will take a million dollars annually out of the village tax base, says Storey.

“That hits a small community really hard,” she said. “When you have communities that already have hundred-million dollar infrastructure deficits you’re already relying on grants and advocacy to get everything you get. We work really hard and Fraser Lake has done a good job at working towards becoming sustainable, with or without industry, however, we’re not there yet.

“Of the 177 that I know of, 65 per cent of those live in Fraser Lake, so that means we’re losing quite a number of people that wanted to stay here and live and raise their kids here. It’s a tough one for people, they need these job close to home and now we have to come up with a plan.”

The company says its inability to access economically-viable fibre in the region is the reason for the closure. West Fraser said it will try to find work for the Fraser Lake workers at its other operations. There will be government-sponsored retraining opportunities but Storey said most people can’t afford to live on Employment Insurance benefits to take advantage of those programs.

Storey is hopeful a local ownership group that has no need to appease shareholders of a billion-dollar corporation will buy the mill to keep it and its biomass energy plant operating.  The village is currently undertaking a community forest thinning and spacing project near the airport to remove low-hanging branches and deadfall to create better wildlife corridors and reduce fire risk.  She said if they find that kind of selective logging is profitable on a larger scale that might be a way to keep the mill open.

“There might be an opportunity here to create a co-operative sawmill or some other industry,” said Storey. “Maybe we need to build recycling plant in the north for textiles instead of shipping it to China. You just have to have the right investors and the right doors open at the right time. The community is looking for leadership and the light at the end of the tunnel.”

Fraser Lake suffered another blow in July 2015 when the Endako mine closed due to low molybdenum prices, resulting in the loss of 280 jobs, but commodity prices have rebounded and Storey says there’s always that possibility it will reopen.

Storey said some of mill workers might find jobs at the Blackwater Gold mine Artemis Gold is building 112 km southwest of Vanderhoof, but those are camp jobs that take people away from the village, perhaps for a month without a break, where they can’t be volunteer coaches for the kids’ teams or take part in community events with their families.

Storey spoke to BC United leader Kevin Falcon this morning and is expecting a call from Premier David Eby later today.

The Fraser Lake mayor will also be participating in an emergency conference call meeting this afternoon that will involve Stikine MLA Nathan Cullen, BC’s Minister for Water, Land and Resource Stewardship; MP Skeena-Bulkley Valley MP Taylor Bachrach; Bulkley-Nechako Regional District chair Mark Parker; Nadleh Whut’en First Nation chief Marten Louie and Stellat’en First Nation chief Robert Michell.

A townhall meeting and job fair is planned for Fraser Lake the week of Feb. 5.