Sagkeeng eyes buying Pine Falls mill

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This article was published 10/12/2009 (5959 days ago), so information in it may no longer be current.

Sagkeeng First Nation is an interested buyer in the Pine Falls paper mill, but it won’t be rushed into making a purchase.

Chief Donovan Fontaine said the band has long had its eye on taking a stake in the local paper mill but added that a great deal of scrutiny is required before it will enter negotiations.

"It’s not like Sagkeeng has first right of refusal to buy the mill," Fontaine, who spoke by telephone from Ottawa, said. "It’s not like Tembec told us ahead of time — that would have been nice because then we could have gotten started earlier in conducting our risk assessment and doing a cost analysis."

Fontaine said Sagkeeng had approached Tembec and the local union about the possibility of taking a stake in the paper mill but added he was surprised when Tembec announced Tuesday that it wants to sell the mill. "We always knew this day was coming we just didn’t think it was coming so fast," Fontaine said.

Sagkeeng will bring in outside experts who can advise the band on the viability of the mill and the short-term and long-term market prospects, Fontaine said. "There are many factors that have to be considered. We don’t want to make a mistake."

Fontaine said Tembec knows the mill and mill property and the surrounding forest land will likely be the subject of a land claim dispute, adding that could impact any purchase by a third party.

"The mill is on Sagkeeng land," Fontaine said. "Any potential purchaser has to consider that potential liability."

Fontaine said it’s not such a big stretch for the band to consider buying the paper mill, adding the workers did the same thing about 15 years ago and then sold it to Tembec in 1998.

Sagkeeng would be willing to consider native and non-native partners in any purchase, Fontaine said, adding it’s also prepared to consider buying the mill on its own.

"The worst case scenario is someone else buys it and then we deal with that or, no one buys it and the mill sinks and the forest remains intact," Fontaine said. "There would be no more pollution and the forest would be safe and for a lot of our members that would be a good position but then there would be no mill, no jobs and no economic development and we’d have to deal with that."

Conservative Leader Hugh McFadyen said the fact that Tembec is looking to sell the paper mill is "good news" for the community. "Tembec, to be quite candid, has not been a stellar corporate citizen, particularly in recent times," he told reporters Wednesday.

McFadyen said the province should try to recoup $2.7 million it paid to Tembec to quit cutting trees in provincial parks. Soon after the company received the money, it started laying off workers and later locked them out.

A union spokesman said the mill’s union local executive and bargaining committee will review today a recent offer of settlement from Tembec.

Wayne Skrypnyk, negotiator with the United Steelworkers of America, said Tembec has presented an offer of settlement that sets aside the concessions the company was seeking in wages and benefits but he added there are other conditions tied to the offer that must be considered.

 

— with files from Larry Kusch

aldo.santin@freepress.mb.ca