Powell River's tiskʷat mill closure

Roy L Hales/ Cortes Currents - After a century of operation, British Columbia’s oldest newsprint mill is closing down. Catalyst’s tiskʷat (tees-kwat) Mill, in Powell River, has been in operation since 1912. At one point one in every 25 newspapers worldwide used their paper. The mill closed down, for what initially though to be a temporary curtailment, on November 22nd. On December 1st their parent company, Paper Excellence, announced the closure was indefinite.

Graham Kissak, Vice President of corporate Communications emailed Cortes Currents that tiskʷat (tees-kwat) is no longer able to compete in a market plagued by an ongoing contraction of global paper markets and paper prices.

The company plans to offer employees jobs at Paper Excellence’s other facilities.

UNIFOR Local 75 president Bill Spence told the Powell River Peak, “They have to feed their families, so if there is an opportunity elsewhere, then that’s good for the members,” 

“Paper Excellence continues to believe that Canada is a leader in the pulp and paper industry and remains committed to its long-term investments here—Catalyst Port Alberni, Catalyst Crofton, Howe Sound Pulp and Paper, and Skookumchuck Pulp,” said Kissack.

He added, “the company’s priority will be safeguarding the site and equipment, removal of all fibre and chemicals, and general cleanup of the facility to eliminate environmental risk. At the same time, Paper Excellence is engaged with our governments and potential partners investigating promising new opportunities that would take advantage of the facility’s unique access to deep water, natural gas, electricity, and water supplies, as well as its existing biomass boiler with power generating capacity, wastewater treatment and solid waste disposal infrastructure.”

Powell River Mayor David Formosa issued a press release saying, “Paper Excellence, the BC Government, and Renewable Hydrogen Canada have been in extensive discussions to transition the mill into a significant hydrogen and clean fuel production facility.”

While there are no guarantees this will come to fruition, the city promised to continue working with Premier Horgan’s office, MLA Nicholas Simons, and Paper Excellence to explore opportunities.

Kissack said,“We’ve already had a number of discussions relating to the site about potential approaches and things we could do in the short, medium and long term. We are certainly exploring those and we will continue to do that through December and January.”

Spence said “We hope something happens that is good for the community, but really, it’s impossible to say. People will deal with it.”

Union members will be cleaning the site up until they are laid off on January 31st, 2022.