70 to 80 jobs reopen in Juniper

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By Shawn Merrithew

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The dark shroud over a Northern Carleton County community will lift temporarily this fall, giving about 80 employees a glimmer of hope.

Earlier this week, officials at Fraser Papers Inc. confirmed operations will resume at its Juniper sawmill by September for a short period of time.

Paul McKinley, manager of lumber mill operations for Fraser Papers, said, during the past few weeks, the company has been actively canvassing the area to ensure it has enough staff to restart. When the sawmill shutdown last October, he said, several residents sought out other employment opportunities. Still, many decided to weather the storm.

"We do have a full complement of people that have committed to coming back," explained McKinley. "We will employ about 70 to 80. We are scheduled to run the mill on one shift, and, at this point, we are looking at operating for three to four months."

McKinley added the company is not committing to anything further as it is still hard to say what the future will bring.

"Looking at all our needs – our fibre supply we can obtain to run the mill and our by-products – that looks to be a reasonable scenario at this point, so that is what we are scheduling."

Roger Thomas worked all his life for Fraser Papers in Juniper, and he was sad to see it take a long shutdown. He sees the mill reopening as good news for the tiny community, which has been struggling over the last year with the permanent closure of Norbord I-Joist and the temporary closure of Fraser Papers.

While he was asked to come back to work, Thomas said, he will not be joining his former co-workers in the fall as he accepted a job at the nearby Deersdale mill. Still, he is pleased to see Fraser Papers reopening soon, creating some much-needed employment in the community and instilling a little hope.

"I'm pleased to see my friends going back to work," said Thomas, whose wife will be among them. "It is the only thing we got here other than Irving (in Deersdale). They are saying it will be for three or four months unless the market picks up. Still, it is good news for Juniper."

Thomas added it would be nice to see the mill open up and stay operating, but that is a wait-and-see situation.

Thomas isn't the only one excited about the opening.

Mills Convenience owner Marla Mills said it is much-welcomed news for the community, which has been rocked by hardships for over a year leaving nearly 300 people unemployed.

"It has been just terrible," Mills said. "The people in the community have hope now. It just seems we lost hope, but then we got the good news. Now everyone seems to be in great spirits."

Having residents heading back to work, she added, will be a benefit to the town, even it is for a short period.

"Anything is better than nothing," she said.

"I'm just happy we weren't forgotten in this. Maybe there is light at the end of the tunnel."

McKinley said the decision to reopen is filling the commitment the company made last year during the shutdown. It was slated to only be a nine- to 11-month shutdown, he explained, and that time frame is fast approaching.

"We are at a new decision point," McKinley explained. "We have clearly stated we did not permanently close Juniper, and we are not selling the Juniper mill or dismantling it. That arrangement we set up for nine to 11 months is drawing to a close, so we are looking at this scenario as our operating scenario for the near term, and we will see what this does."

Employees are expected to head back to work by Sept. 22, McKinley pointed out, though some will return earlier in order to prepare to resume operations. A few weeks following the initial startup, he said, the planner operations will resume, and the mill will begin accepting wood deliveries as early as next week to build up an inventory.

"Based on our forecasted wood deliveries, we can see ourselves sustaining that for three or four months," he added.

"It will probably be in full operation by mid-October."

Despite the hardships in the lumber industry, McKinley remains optimistic things will turn around. Industry experts say the lumber market is expected to recover from its downward trend, and the recent drop in Canadian dollar, along with some improvements in lumber prices, provides a little extra hope, he added.

"If we can survive long enough, there is a good outlook for lumber," McKinley explained. "The future market for lumber is predicted by just about everybody to be very robust in 2010 and some are saying as early as the middle of 2009. That is a year from now, so we will have to wait and see. Only time will tell."