A blow for 300 Northwood employees

“With no foreseeable improvement in the outlook, Canfor has made the difficult decision to close its Northwood facility,” the company said.

Operations at the mill continue as normal for now, but for hundreds of workers and their families, the announcement has already changed their future.

“It’s everyone losing their jobs,” said Northwood employee and Unifor Local 603 Co-Chair Ryan Zanette.

Zanette said the workforce has steadily declined over the years. Once employing roughly 650 people, the facility has shrunk to approximately 220 unionized workers and 80 staff positions.

“Used to be a 650-person mill, and now we went down to, I think there’s 220 employees here now with 80 staff,” he said. “And now it’s everyone losing their jobs.”

The decision has sent shockwaves through the local workforce, where many families have already experienced the impacts of mill closures and reductions across the forestry sector.

Chuck LeBlanc, National Representative for the Public and Private Workers of Canada, said the human impact of the closure extends far beyond the plant gates.

“When you hear this type of news, your heart rate drops and you start thinking, ‘Okay, all these families tomorrow are going to wake up and have to look at what are we going to do now?’” said LeBlanc.

“They’ve got some time, but it’s such a life-changing event in such a short amount of time.”

The closure reflects broader structural changes in the global pulp industry. According to LeBlanc, competitors in countries such as China and Indonesia have adopted technologies that allow them to produce higher-quality pulp from lower-cost fibre sources.

“China and a lot of the Indonesian countries now have taken technology and made inferior pulp into better pulp,” he said. “That is what’s really hurting our bottom line because now they’re able to do it cheaper than what we can do it, even though our fibre is still the best fibre in the world. They don’t need as much of it now.”

While Canfor highlighted global market conditions, labour representatives also pointed to issues closer to home.

Zanette said workers have seen warning signs for some time as forestry production slowed and mills across the province struggled with rising costs and declining fibre availability.

“We kind of seen it coming just with the markets and stuff and the forestry with the NDP. And nothing’s been done,” he said.

“All the raw logs leaving the province and it’s kind of expected. With all the other pulp mills closing in the province, we’ve got no industry in Prince George anymore.”

While Prince George remains home to other forestry operations, Zanette argued the sector has been dramatically reduced compared with previous decades.

The closure follows the shutdown of Canfor’s PG Pulp operation in 2023, further reducing the city’s pulp production capacity. Together, the closures represent hundreds of lost jobs and significant economic impacts for businesses and services that rely on forestry workers and their spending power.

The forestry industry has long been a cornerstone of Prince George’s economy, supporting generations of workers, contractors and local businesses. As facilities close or curtail production, concerns continue to grow about the long-term future of forestry-dependent communities across northern British Columbia.

LeBlanc said union representatives remain deeply concerned about the outlook for the broader pulp sector.

“We know that there’s still pressure on a lot of our pulp mills here in B.C., both Unifor and BWC mills,” he said.

“We were hoping not, but the modelling shows at least one more mill has the potential of closing in the next six to eight months. And that’s scary. It’s another whole set of families that are going to get put through this.”

For workers at Northwood, the focus now shifts to what comes next.

Some will begin searching for work immediately. Others will weigh retraining opportunities, relocation or retirement options. Many will be waiting to learn what supports may become available through government programs or severance agreements.

For Zanette, the reality of the mill’s closure came home during a conversation with his family.

“Did you have your conversation with your family yesterday?” he was asked.

“Yeah.”

“What was that conversation?”

“I had the wife do my resume.”

It is a conversation that will likely be repeated in hundreds of households across Prince George in the months ahead.

Although production at Northwood will continue until the end of the year, the announcement has already cast a shadow over the facility and the community it has supported for decades.

For the approximately 300 workers directly affected, the countdown to closure has begun. For Prince George, another chapter in its forestry history is coming to an end.

** Pattison Media is owned by Jim Pattison Industries, a majority shareholder in Canfor.

by Cheryl Jahn

A blow for 300 Northwood employees

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