PHOTOS: Worker “glad to be home” as Big River saw mill reopens

“Probably by mid-June we’ll be up to full capacity. At that point we’ll just continue to tweak the saw mill and planer, and continue with the upgrades. That’s the name of the game in the forest industry, always trying to improve,” he said.

One worker shares long history with saw mill

Dale Banks’ history with that saw mill dates back much farther than Carrier’s involvement.

He started his mill work in 1973, and when the mill relocated out of town he went with it.

After more than 30 years working there, he lost his job when the mill closed in 2006. While Banks originally expected to be laid off for a few months, it spanned into more than seven years.

During that time, he travelled to Meadow Lake, Rabbit Lake uranium mine, and other areas to work. Long periods of time away from his lifelong home had a noticeable impact on his family.

“The marks went down in school. They were ‘A’ students and they dropped in that time. So coming back home it’s way better for them. It’s back as a family, basically,” Banks said with tears in his eyes.

He has been back at the mill since August of last year, looking after storage rather than his past job as a millwright.

“I’m enjoying it. It’s lot of work, lots of hours at times. But I feel very rewarded by it. I’m glad to be home and back here working,” Banks said as his voice wavered.

Since last fall he has seen more people come on staff as they ramp up production.

“It’s good to see more people coming here, new people that were never here before either,” Banks said.

Banks said the benefit to Big River, which he has called home his whole life, is large.

“The spinoff is also in the bush, and in the retail business and everything else. There are more people now that got trucking logs into here and some of the guys that are contracting have had the opportunity to get back into full swing and produce wood out of the bush basically almost all year long,” he said.

Big River has a population of more than 600 people.

Prince Albert spinoff

Prince Albert is among those to benefit from the reopening. For example, after the reopening ceremony a semi owned by a Prince Albert company, pulled out of the parking lot with a full load of lumber.

Carrier also owns a site near Prince Albert, and has been using it as a reloading site onto rail since it was closed in January.

As far as reopening it for production, “I can’t make any promises at this point. We want to make sure this operation is well-established and on its feet before we look at PA again,” Kordyban said.

“We truck the lumber [from Big River] to Prince Albert and load it onto rail there. We’re looking at expanding that to commercial use and to maybe hire out that facility to others as well.”

Reopening ceremony a big draw from across the province

The grand reopening of the saw mill was attended by more than 200 people on Tuesday.

This included Premier Brad Wall, area-MLA Nadine Wilson, Rob Buckingham, the mayor of Big River, and the minister of economy, Bill Boyd, and numerous First Nations representatives.

At the outdoor ceremony, the chief of Witchekan Lake First Nation wrapped Kordyban in a traditional blanket. He explained the interactions the company’s had with First Nations.

“There’s the business side of it where we purchase wood from the First Nations. They have tenures as well. We have business relations with them … and there’s also just the social aspect of it. We’re operating on their traditional territories. When you lay out cut blocks and things like that there has to be consultations and discussions, so you get to know people on a personal basis because your operations are impacting in their lives.”

Wall spoke to some of the government’s actions in relation to the mill over the years.

This included a reforestation management agreement that “was a priority for our government” and other government efforts to push forestation operations in the province forwards, he said.

He acknowledged that employment numbers in the north have lagged behind the rest of the province.

“That’s why projects like this … in the northern part of Saskatchewan and in this sector are very important because there will be opportunities, through forestry, in regions where maybe employment hasn’t been quite as strong as elsewhere. And there will be opportunities for people, first nations and others perhaps, who haven’t been able to, where south east Saskatchewan where the oil plays is a long ways away from here. It’s jobs here,” Wall said.

claskowski@panow.com

On Twitter: @chelsealaskowsk

by Chelsea Laskowski

PHOTOS: Worker “glad to be home” as Big River saw mill reopens

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