Paper mill shutdown 'starting to sink in' for Espanola and 450 workers

Hundreds of workers at the Espanola paper mill have one month to go before they put in their final shift.

Domtar announced in September that it is indefinitely shutting down the decades-old pulp and paper plant in the northern Ontario town of 5,100.

The company says it idled its pulp mill on Oct. 4 and that will lead to 277 workers being laid off on Nov. 30.

One of them is Johnathan Nadeau, who has worked at Domtar for six years and sits on the executive for the main Unifor union local, and says it's "starting to sink in."

"The mood changes by the day, realizing there's only a month left and it's going to fundamentally change a lot of aspects of people's lives," he said. 

"There's a big internal debate on whether or not people are going to have to pack up and leave town or if they're going to be fortunate enough to be able to stay. Applying for jobs on your days off. It definitely hit a little bit harder over the last two weeks I'd say, that it's coming to a close." 

Nadeau, who also sits on Espanola's town council, says he is planning to stay in the community and is holding off on home renovations, hoping the money his family has saved up will help cover their bills until he finds a new job.

"As much as this is obviously going to put a bit of a dent into us, I think we will survive," he said.

"It'll be a speed bump, but I think Espanola will thrive in the future."

Domtar says its paper machines are set to keep running until Dec. 20, leading to the layoff of another 77 workers on Jan. 19. 

The company says some 33 workers will continue to do maintenance work in the mill over the winter, with 14 getting laid off in May and then another 19 staying on to look after the plant after that.

Domtar has been trying to sell the Espanola mill for several years and Nadeau says there are rumours that possible buyers have been touring through the pulp and paper plant in recent weeks. 

"We're all just operating on conjecture. We don't know which companies are looking at it or anything of that nature," he said. 

"And I think there's a lot of people that if a buyer were to step up, they'd get a lot of support from the workers to make it work for them."