Some good news for B.C’s forestry industry out of Mackenzie this week.
On Monday (June 22), Conifex said it’ll return to operations at its sawmill in the northern B.C. district on July 6, which will end a three-month curtailment due to the COVID-19 pandemic, the health and safety of employees and the ‘rapidly changing market conditions.’
On April 6, the company announced a two-week temporary shutdown, but added two more weeks on April 16, four more weeks on May 1, then five weeks on May 29.
According to Conifex, the sawmill employs 160 people, adding the facility will operate on a two-shift, five-day-per-week basis moving forward.
The announcement came a day before Mackenzie residents rallied for a second time in two years about the struggling industry, calling on the provincial and federal governments for job security and hope for the district’s future.
Meanwhile, Mackenzie’s Paper Excellence remains curtailed as of June 11 putting more than 250 people out of work for the time being because of COVID-19 and the mill’s ‘competitiveness’ in the district, northern B.C. and the entire province.
