West Fraser Timber to permanently shutter sawmill in Fraser Lake, B.C., cutting 175 jobs
Vancouver-based firm says it will try to provide work opportunities at its other operations
West Fraser Timber Co. Ltd. says it's permanently closing its sawmill in Fraser Lake, B.C., after an orderly wind-down.
The Vancouver-based company says it's unable to access economically viable fibre in the region.
West Fraser says the closure will affect about 175 employees in the community roughly 140 kilometres west of Prince George.
The company says it will mitigate the impact by providing work opportunities at its other operations.
The closure will reduce the company's Canadian lumber capacity by around 160 million board feet.
The news comes after an announcement earlier in January that West Fraser was closing its Maxville, Fla., sawmill and indefinitely curtailing operations at its sawmill in Huttig, Ark.
The company attributed the decision to high fibre costs and soft lumber markets.
The mill is a major employer in Fraser Lake, Mayor Sarrah Storey says.
"There's a lot of people that work there and they are really going to be impacted as they try to figure out where to go," she said. "It came as a bit of a shock. We are still trying to figure what Fraser Lake will look like without its last remaining industry."
Fraser Lake is part of the Northwest British Columbia Resource Benefits Alliance (RBA), a group of nearly two dozen local governments advocating for a revenue-sharing agreement with the province that would provide communities with sustainable funding for infrastructure repairs and efforts to attract new residents and workers.
In September 2022, a memorandum of understanding was signed between the RBA and the province to work together to assess the impact of current and new industrial developments in the province's northwest.
Storey says she hopes the alliance will help boost economic development in Fraser Lake and create good local jobs.
With files from CBC News