Nearly 100 people march through Nackawic in support of mill workers

These stacks here behind me at the Nacowick Mill are expected to go cold soon as the facility is scheduled to go idle, leading to the loss of hundreds of jobs. Workers organized a march in protest of the shutdown and the layoffs. Protect Canadian jobs! Protect Canadian jobs! Protect Canadian jobs! It was just a few weeks ago when the wood yard at A.V. Nacowick was full, but now it sits empty as the mill prepares for its uncertain future. Around 350 workers are scheduled to lose their jobs, and as Nacowick's largest employer, it leaves the future of the small town cloudy. And we're going to continue to work to make sure that families can be supported and that we get another active economic player, I guess, to use the site, to use the wood if possible, and we're just pulling out all the stops. Those workers, union heads, and several politicians gathered to march through the town in support of those forestry jobs that are set to disappear. Grant Charlton has been at the plant for 12 years. He's worked as a chemical plant operator, and he's also the local Unifor president. It's a struggle and the closer we get to the end day, the more it sinks in and the darker the moods become I guess. It's definitely been a downward trajectory other than the initial news. As that day gets closer people are becoming more and more anxious of what the future will hold. Well I'm going to ride her out to the end I guess and see what happens and start looking for a job. Nathaniel Foster says he's been at the mill for 15 years. He says he loves his job as a heavy equipment operator and the people he works alongside. A husband and father of three, he says losing his job will cut the family's income in half. And it's going to be hard looking over the horizon and not seeing those stacks billowing next month. Well, I'm going to have to move on to something else. I've worked in the forestry all my life, so I worked in the woods for 15 years before I went to the mill. What did you do then? I thinned, silviculture work. I've always been in the forest industry, so that's all I really know. But while people rallied under the shadow of the mill that is set to close its doors to workers, the mayor says he's in contact with the mill operators and owners. He knows those layoffs are inevitable, but he does have some hopes and expectations for the future. They've used the word temporary idling. We're hoping that they put it into a warm idle, which means they keep it warm over the winter as opposed to a cold idle where it's shut down completely, but we'll see where that lands. It is very preliminary and there's really not much that you can put your hand around right at this point, but I know there is a lot of discussion happening in the background and the provincial government has done a good job of leading some of that.