Photo courtesy Unifor

By Greg Fry

Forestry rally

‘This is just the beginning’: Another forestry rally planned for Mackenzie

Jun 25, 2020 | 3:00 PM

MACKENZIE — Fresh on the heels of a rally on Tuesday, Mackenzie residents are getting set to hit the streets again to protest cutbacks in the forestry sector.

On Monday, the Facebook group ‘Stop the Logs,’ has organized another rally in front of the Ministry of Forests building in Mackenzie at 9 a.m.(June 29).

“The purpose is to make some noise and draw attention to the crisis Mackenzie is under right now,” says Rebecca Gagnon.

That crisis was sparked by the closure of Canfor’s sawmill last summer, the curtailment at Conifex’s sawmill earlier this spring and the indefinite curtailment of Mackenzie Pulp announced earlier this month.

And though Conifex has announced it’s restarting operations on July 6, Gagnon says the loss of Mackenzie Pulp and Canfor has left a hole in the community.

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As for how to did out of that hole, she says the government needs to bring back appurtenancy – which required companies harvesting timber from public land to harvest it at local mills.

“Seventeen years ago appurtenancy was taken away which means the logs that they’re logging here in Mackenzie’s fibre basket, is taken away and manufactured elsewhere.”

For example she says Canfor still has timber harvesting rights here and sends logs out of town on a regular basis.

Gagnon says she’s no stranger to the boom and bust nature of the forestry sector, noting she lost her job in 2008, retrained, left town and came back.

She adds it’s extra tough because she has deep ties in Mackenzie.

“I have extended family that works at the pulp mill. I also have friends that worked at Canfor. I work at Conifex with my husband. I moved here when I was 16. My spouse was born here and it’s always been home and a lovely place to live. Our kids were born here too.”

And despite the challenges, Gagnon hasn’t given up hope things will rebound like they did 10 years ago.

“This is just the beginning. We won’t go down without a fight.”