During global pandemic, paper produced at northern Manitoba mill in high demand

Mill near The Pas nearly closed 5 years ago, now makes paper used in delivery boxes sent around the world

To see the original article please click here.

The Canadian Kraft Paper mill is near The Pas and Opaskwayak Cree Nation in northern Manitoba. The mill was nearly shut down five years ago, but is now producing kraft paper in high demand. (Sheila North/CBC)

Sheila North · CBC News · Oct 27, 2021

Surrounded by millions of trees in northern Manitoba is a mill that turns many of those trees into tough, low-cost kraft paper.

But the sights and sounds of the paper mill near The Pas and Opaskwayak Cree Nation nearly ground to a halt for good five years ago. Tolko Industries, the main employer in The Pas, Man., announced in August 2016 that it was shutting down its mill, potentially putting 332 people out of work.

"It was a very tumultuous … very scary time — very uncertain of the future, especially with a young family and being committed to the community," said Brianne Bates, who worked at the mill during that period.

Now, five years later, Bates says the mill is back — and producing a product in high demand during the global pandemic.

The durable kraft paper produced at the Canadian Kraft Paper mill is used in bags for heavy products such as sugar, flour and dog food — and in the delivery boxes that have shown up on millions of doorsteps around the world, as people have increasingly turned to online shopping, particularly during the pandemic.

Bates is back at work at the mill as a maintenance and engineering manager, and says she and other staff are proud of the work they're doing.

"It's a pretty amazing feeling to go out there and know that this paper that we make in northern Manitoba can go all over the world," Bates told CBC in an interview last week.

After Tolko announced its plans to close the mill, it was purchased by American Industrial Acquisition Corp., a U.S.-based company, in 2016. Canadian Kraft Paper was formed as a subsidiary of that company later that year.

The type of trees used to make the paper the mill produces only grow in northern Manitoba, says Andre Murphy, the general manager at the Canadian Kraft Paper mill.

Slow-growing trees take years to fully mature, making the fibre in the trees among the strongest in the world, said Murphy, who has been making paper at mill for the past 38 years.

"The fibre strength is a lot stronger than a typical southern fibre that's produced from a tree in the southern U.S. or those type of areas," said Murphy.

In fact, there are only a few places in North America and Europe that can produce the same type of unbleached kraft paper the mill in The Pas produces, he said.

But the people who work at the plant help set it apart too, said Murphy.

"Our success is really based on what we do here as a company and as employees and the decisions we make, and that's how we're going to be successful in the future."

One the biggest decisions he and the owners of the paper mill made recently was to keep working through the COVID-19 pandemic.

They introduced new safety protocols and kept producing northern Manitoba product that was needed more than ever during the global pandemic.

Murphy says the mill also relies on strong partnerships with area businesses and First Nations, as well as incorporating sustainable practices to make sure the company can keep working to satisfy the global demand for its product.

To see the original article please click here.