The Canfor mill in Vavenby will be shutting down in early July, resulting in 178 resulting job losses.

The president of the United Steelworkers Local 1-417 Marty Gibbons tells NL News the company announced the closure at 3 p.m. this afternoon.

“It is a dark day… We’ve had concerns for some time; this operation’s been up and down for most of the year, they’ve already lost seven weeks up there. Everyone’s well aware of the timber supply issues in our area. Regrettably though, Clearwater has lost the last major sawmill that was in the area. Which is really, really disturbing, because at one point in time there was multiple, I believe up to three, major sawmills providing employment in that area. And unfortunately the last one will be shutting down.”

Gibbons says along with the 178 direct job losses, he says the spinoff job losses could be immense, saying many small businesses in the area rely heavily on dollars generated from forestry.

He is calling for government support for B.C.’s forest sector, saying forest workers feel like they are the “forgotten workers,” noting other sectors  have received government support but not the forest industry.

“We’ve been the backbone of the economy in these areas for a long time, and the government needs to look after these communities.”

Leading up to today’s closure announcement, the Canfor mill in Vavenby has been shut down on several occasions since last fall; most recently the mill was shut for a week from April 29 to May 3, and most notably it was down for six weeks from Feb. 11 to March 22.