Hundreds of people gathered at the Town of Kapuskasing’s Train Station Welcome Centre and joined several mayors, leaders and politicians on Wednesday, in a show of solidarity for the Kap Paper Mill and Green First Forest Products.
Kap Paper announced that it will idle the plant due to the absence of near-term measures required to maintain the integrated forestry supply chain in northeastern Ontario, even after months of engagement with governments and partners.
Kapuskasing Mayor Dave Plourde led a series of speakers during the rally.
“The goal is to generate a visual for the government to show how important Kap Paper and Green First are to our families living in northern Ontario and in our region,” Plourde told the crowd.
“We want to demonstrate our resolve to keep fighting and to get the Ontario government to provide short-term funding and to stop pointing fingers and to work with us.”
Plourde said the reason they are on the brink of closure is the need for a short-term loan from the Ontario government to keep the paper mill running while they negotiate with the federal government for longer-term money to upgrade the mill.
“The two governments are now pointing fingers at each other, while Kap Paper and Green First sawmills have idled and are on the very cusp of closure,” he said.
Plourde said Kap Paper has been in existence for more than 105 years, and has seen wars, fires, droughts, recessions and COVID-19. “Some people think the facility is old school, but it’s very progressive. Our senior management are all women,” he said.
Meanwhile, Terry Skiffington, Kap Paper’s chief executive officer, is in Ottawa meeting with representatives of the federal government to find a solution to the problem.
“We have to send people representing our community over there to get them to talk together is just unthinkable,” Plourde said.
The paper companies provide over $300 million annually to the government, suppliers and workers. The companies give over $74 million in taxes and stumpage fees, and in Kapuskasing alone, more than $1 million in taxation.
MPP Guy Bourgouin, Mushkegowuk-James Bay, told the crowd they are all northerners and they will figure this out.
“This truck went off the cliff in 2008, when forestry at that time in Ontario was harvesting 24 million cubic metres a year sustainably in world-class fashion,” Bourgouin said.
“Everybody from around the world came and saw how to harvest a forest, how to manage the environment, and how to build communities just like this one here. Quite frankly, over those 17 years, we’re now harvesting 10 million cubic metres a year and 65 mills have gone down. This is the last stalwart standing to hold this industry together.”
Bourgouin added that watching this mill close while having no plan over the last 17 years, and how to carry this community and the rest of small-town Canada forward, is shameful.
Mayor Roger Sigouin, for the Town of Hearst, wants the governments to give them the tools for success.
“You’re going to see a bunch of Frenchmen fighting for this one,” Sigouin said. “Let’s show the government we could do a lot better than they think, because the Frenchmen, the Anglophones and the other cultures, when they stand up and fight for what they believe in, watch us. Get us the tools, and we’re going to be (successful).”
Mayor Johanne Baril, for the Municipality of Val Rita-Harty, joined the rally by phone.
“This is along traditional territory, treaty territory, unceded territory, what we now know as Northeastern Ontario, we in Val Rita-Harty stand in full solidarity with the affected workers, the families and businesses and the Kapuskasing council and mayor,” Baril said.
“This rally is a powerful reminder that this crisis is shared across the district, and it requires our collective response. I want to reaffirm my commitment to ensuring that our voices of northeastern Ontario are heard clearly and decisively in shaping the path forward for this mill.”
