More than 230 Unifor members in Pictou, Nova Scotia lost their jobs in January 2020 after the Northern Pulp mill was forced to close.

Their pensions, their jobs and as many as 11,000 forestry and related jobs across the province hang in the balance as the company prepares plans for a modernized mill.

Support Nova Scotia forestry workers

We have demanded Northern Pulp and parent company Paper Excellence honour Unifor Local 440 members’ pensions and submit plans to government and to community stakeholders that meet government standards.

What remains a challenge is identifying the standards Nova Scotia’s Department of Environment (NSE) will accept.

Unifor supported the previous Environmental Assessment document submitted by the company to the government, because the stated impacts were well within federal Pulp and Paper Effluent Regulations (PPER) and existing Canadian Ambient Air Quality Standards (CAAQS). Indeed, it would have been a solid improvement on the previous mill, which also met those federal standards.

In December 2021, Nova Scotia Environment released its revised Draft Terms of Reference (DTOR), which is supposed to serve as a framework to guide Northern Pulp’s creation of an Environmental Assessment for the updated mill project. (The Draft Terms of Reference can be found here on the Nova Scotia government website).

Unifor continues to believe in a solution that will maintain thousands of good, rural forestry jobs, protect the environment, and respect Pictou Landing First Nation.

Read the letter below and submit to Nova Scotia Environment to support Unifor members and workers in the broader forestry sector.

Support Nova Scotia forestry workers