Angelo Bazzoni was mayor of White River in 2008 when lumber giant Domtar shut down their mill, devastating the Town’s economy and forcing unemployed mill workers to relocate in search of work.
Mayor Bazzoni, Town Council and the Economic Development Department began a six-year-long effort to bring the mill back into production by partnering with their “good neighbours,” the Pic Mobert First Nation. As they waited for a potential investor to step forward, they made sure to preserve the mill’s assets by performing necessary silvicultural work as well as maintenance on the road network and railway spur.
After expressions of interest from two potential investors were rejected, the Town and the Pic Mobert First Nation teamed up with forest products executive Frank Dottori to restart the mill.
Angelo’s advice to any other small, resource-dependent community facing a similar situation is to take control of its resources.
“The forest surrounding a community belongs to the community, not some corporate giant that wants to reap the benefits and leave with the profits,” he counsels.
He also advises to “build from within,” a creed the Town followed when Northern Stores closed shop in the community. To fill the gap, close to $400,000 was raised from the sale of shares to community members in order to establish a locally owned co-op.
With the mill back in production and several new mines providing employment in the community, prosperity has returned to White River. The problem now is a labour shortage and a lack of housing that is largely attributable to the banking industry’s lack of confidence in one industry towns and the reluctance of developers to invest in rental housing.
The entrepreneurial mindset of White River’s leadership, Mayor Bazzoni tells us in this video, is mainly responsible for the town’s success in overcoming the challenges it has faced.