Mishtuk Corporation has signed a deal with Domtar Inc. to build a sawmill for $5.8 million.
The agreement was signed March 17 in Domtar’s head office in Montreal. Construction of the sawmill could start by May, said Mishtuk president Peter Gull.
The sawmill will be owned and operated by a new corporation,
Nabakatuk Forest Products Inc., which will be 45-per-cent owned by Domtar and 55-per-cent by Mishtuk. Mishtuk is putting in $ 1.1 million, to be matched by $l.l million from Domtar. Domtar is also kicking in another $600-700,000 in working capital to get the project off the ground. The rest of the money is coming from a federal grant and bank loans.
“We’re quite happy with this agreement,” said A. J. (Eddie) Ross, vice-president and general manager of Domtar’s Kraft Pulp and Forest Products Division.
“In Quebec, industry will do business with Native people.” Peter Gull said the deal with Domtar is the first joint venture between a Native community and a forest company in northern Quebec. “It’s something that will benefit the community,” he said, pointing to the 70-80 jobs that will be created for Crees—30 in the mill, I0 in administration and logging, and 30-40 in “sylviculture” (tree-planting, scarification and roadside cleaning).
Mishtuk will expand its tree-cutting threefold, from 48,000 cubic metres last year to 125,000 when the mill is fully operational. Impact hearings will start soon into the project.
Not everyone is pleased that the project has gone ahead. “I think they went ahead without the consent of the people,” said Sam W. Gull of Waswanipi’s Youth Council. “It wasn’t properly done.”
