By Mike Stimpson | Thunder Bay Source
KENORA, Ont. — Ontario New Democrats and union leaders say government should find ways to keep mills in Ear Falls, Ignace and elsewhere open, but with more worker involvement.
“The bottom line is that when things are run on the corporate bottom lines only, communities get left behind, workers lose jobs, profits go out and the problems stay in the community,” Luke Hildebrand, president of the NDP’s Kenora–Rainy River constituency association, told Newswatch this week.
“So the only long-term solution is workers having a stake in the future and not just a paycheque.”
Hildebrand noted that an online petition calling on the provincial and federal governments to “take immediate action to reopen the Ear Falls sawmill and stop the shutdown of Ignace sawmill” has gathered about 300 signatures.
The petition also calls for establishment of a “forestry job protection task force,” development of “a unified provincial–federal strategy to ensure that Canadian lumber is used in Canadian homes” and support for worker equity in mills.
An open letter signed by two northern NDP MPPs and two union leaders urged “immediate action to prevent the closure of the Ignace sawmill and reopen the Ear Falls sawmill and Terrace Bay pulp mill.”
The letter — addressed to regional PC MPPs Greg Rickford and Kevin Holland, federal Natural Resources Minister Tim Hodgson and Conservative Kenora-Kiiwetinoong MP Eric Melillo — also says financial support for forestry companies should be conditional on workers getting an equity stake in their workplaces.
“Worker ownership ensures that those who create value share in the rewards and have a real voice in decision-making,” states the letter, with signatories including Thunder Bay–Superior North MPP Lise Vaugeois.
The Interfor lumber sawmill in Ear Falls was shut down indefinitely in October, throwing more than 150 people out of work.
The petition is an appreciated show of public support, Ear Falls Mayor Kevin Kahoot said Wednesday, “but frankly, you know, 1,000 signatures doesn’t pay the bills for Interfor.”
The company made a decision based on market conditions, he said. “If a company’s not making money, it’s really hard to keep any doors open.”
Domtar’s sawmill in Ignace is set to cease operations indefinitely on March 12, while the AV Terrace Bay pulp mill has been closed since January 2024.
Holland, MPP for Thunder Bay–Atikokan and associate minister of forestry in Premier Doug Ford’s government, told Newswatch worker equity “is a question for the companies and the labour representatives.”
“We would look at it, I guess, to the extent that we would be involved with it, but I see that more as a business and labour force decision.”
