City, Canfor aid mill employees, contractors ahead of mill closure

Fort St. John and the surrounding area is about to feel a great loss, with the imminent closure of the Canfor Mill on the outskirts of the city, which was announced in September.

Canfor announced on Sept. 4 that it will close its FSJ lumber mill (© Tania Finch)

Canfor, said Mayor Lilia Hansen has “been an integral part of our community for decades and an outstanding community partner.” As part of the community, the city felt the need to do what it could to assist the 220 community members who work at Canfor and has created a Community Transition Table.

“The Community Transition Table,” said Hansen, “was assembled to help Canfor employees, contractors and their spouses transition to other jobs using known employment opportunities, apply for grants and funding for retraining programs, and address health or mental health issues that may arise from job loss.”

Inside the Fort St. John mill (Canfor photo)

This Community Transition Table was established in conjunction with Canfor, which has also established a transition office on-site at the mill.

On November 16, the Community Transition Group held a job fair and information session at Northern Lights College, which Hansen says was very well attended, with between 80 and 100 people turning out to connect with organizations such as WorkBC, HubSpace, NLC as well as Canfor HR.

“Council heard gratitude from attendees, especially that their soon to be loss of employment was seen by the community and action taken to help them move forward,” said Hansen.

Further steps to help Canfor employees and contractors find work include a webpage created by the city with information and resources for those affected, and the committee is looking into applying for the Community Workforce Response Grant to support skills training for displaced workers. There will also be a WorkBC Job Fair on February 6, 2025, at the Pomeroy Hotel.

Meanwhile, at Canfor operations will continue into December, processing “our log inventory in the coming the two weeks, and the planer mill will continue to operate a further few weeks to finish shipping finished goods inventory,” said Canfor’s VP of Corporate Affairs Mina Laudan.

“All employees will continue to be on site till December 20. There will remain a small workforce after that date to finalize and complete all cleanup tasks, and then monitor the site. We will also continue to ship any remaining finished product off the site, which we anticipate to be completed in the first or second week of January,” she said.

“Our woodlands staff will also continue into the new year to complete regulatory, forestry and silviculture activities on the land base.”

Laudan added that many of Canfor’s hourly employees have secured other jobs, and some will transfer to the Grande Prairie mill.

“December 20th is going to have a new meaning for 220+ Canfor employees and contractors,” said Hansen.

“Our community will feel this loss but I'm grateful at least to hear that Canfor will continue working in other parts of the province. Perhaps by downsizing their operations they can keep those other BC mills running. They have families too.”