Western Forest Products has announced that it will be again temporarily curtailing operations at its Chemainus sawmill beginning on June 18.
North Cowichan Mayor Rob Douglas, who announced the mill’s curtailment at the council meeting on June 4, said that the Vancouver-based forest company has indicated that the temporary downtime is necessary due to a shortage of viable logs that fit the mill’s requirements, as well as market conditions.
He said WFP has indicated they’ll continue to monitor the situation closely and the start-up date after the curtailment will be confirmed to employees as conditions allow them to resume operations.
“This decision will affect about 150 workers at the mill,” Douglas said. “I have reached out to our Forest Minister Ravi Parmar to discuss our concerns, and anticipate that we’ll be hearing back from him shortly.”
Work at the Chemainus mill was temporarily curtailed twice in 2024, in March and October, and WFP said at the time that it was due to a combination of market challenges, including the fact that the B.C. market is experiencing a lack of available economic log supply at a number of its sawmills, including the one in Chemainus.
In April, Douglas and Nanaimo Mayor Leonard Krog wrote a letter to Parmar urging the province to increase the amount of timber that can be harvested annually in the province.
They said said that, despite its recent struggles, the province’s forest industry continues to be a major part of the local economies of both municipalities, providing high-paying jobs while contributing millions of dollars in taxes every year that help pay for municipal services and build critical infrastructure.
The mayors said that in North Cowichan, the Domtar pulp mill in Crofton and the Western Forest Products sawmills and remanufacturing plant in Cowichan Bay and Chemainus employ 655 workers and contribute $7.7 million per year in property taxes, while Nanaimo’s Harmac Pacific mill has 350 employees and contributed more than $2.3 million in property taxes in 2024.
But Douglas and Krog said that in the face of softwood lumber duties, U.S. tariffs, and the declining annual-allowable cut in the amount of timber that is permitted to be harvested in B.C., they are increasingly concerned about these companies' ability to continue operating.
