Irving to close sawmill in Baker Brook, N.B., put 65 people out of work

J.D. Irving has announced that they will close their sawmill in Baker Brook, N.B., on Nov. 1, 2019, and lay off 65 people.

The company announced its decision on Thursday after a meeting with the union and employees who work at the facility located in northern New Brunswick.

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“The decision to close a mill is never an easy one,” said Jerome Pelletier, vice president of J.D. Irving’s sawmill division.

“The people we work with in Baker Brook are also our neighbors.”

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“We do have a number of openings across our operations in New Brunswick and will be working very hard to identify opportunities for these employees.”

The company said that the facility – which it has owned and operated since 2006 – has “been challenged by difficult business conditions” due to a lack of nearby cedar for processing and markets for by-products.

Jean-Pierre Ouellet, mayor of the town of Upper Madawaska, wrote in a Facebook post that he had been informed by the company about the “very sad news” on Thursday.

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Ouellet, writing in French, said that 50 per cent of the cedar used at the sawmill came from the United States.

He said that that he hopes J.D. Irving will find work for those who lost their jobs.