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CAMPBELL RIVER – The corridors of the largest pulp and paper mill in Western Canada have been dark and dormant for one year, forced to shutter amid plummeting demand for newsprint.
At its peak, it employed more than 1,000 workers and produced 700 tons of newsprint per day. Then emails replaced posted letters, online news began eroding print media's readership, and China launched production of cheap paper.
Executives at Catalyst Paper, which maintains four to seven percent of the North American market for newsprint, faced a difficult decision. Hundreds of workers at the mill found themselves unemployed.
In this town of 30,000, nestled in the ancient forests of Canada's westernmost Vancouver Island, the layoffs were felt by all.
"Our disadvantage is that this is a newsprint facility and unfortunately the demand for newsprint is at an all-time low and the net result is that we have a plant that is not operating," said Terry Hoff, president of the Communication, Energy and Paperworkers Union of Canada Local 630.
Brian Johnston, Catalyst Paper vice-president, points to two events in particular that forced the mill's indefinite closure.
"There are two factors at work," he said. "There is the current recession that we are facing plus there is what we would call the structural decline in the market, where people are reading less, fewer papers."
In this region, where most mills are struggling or closed creating hundreds of jobless, many habitants are having difficulty adapting, their family incomes having been reduced by 100,000 Canadian dollars (63,000 euros, 96,000 US) -- the average mill worker's salary, according to trade unionist Terry Hoff.
"Now your standard of living is just dismal. It's like, I don't know. It's like depressing is what it is," said mechanics student Gordon Wydenes.
"Look around at this retail strip right here, every one of them empty," lamented Tom Hill.
The impacts of the closure are only starting to be seen here, but some aren't waiting around for the worst to come.
Laid off after 15 years at the mill, Hill is part of a growing number of people retraining for a new career.
"I've had the opportunity to get into the nursing program at the local college and I'm looking forward to that next phase of my life," he said.
Working as a nurse will allow him to stay in his community with his two daughters, an enviable outcome compared to many of his former co-workers, who were forced to chase jobs in other parts of the country.
As the prospect of the mill ever re-opening dims, enrollment in skills retraining at the local college is now at a peak.
