RYAM shuts Témiscaming mill over U.S. tariffs
RYAM is closing its Témiscaming facility and citing U.S. tariffs as the reason. About 425 workers face an indefinite shutdown starting September 15.
RYAM is closing its Témiscaming facility and citing U.S. tariffs as the reason. About 425 workers face an indefinite shutdown starting September 15. The town’s largest employer is going dark while the wastewater plant and one boiler keep running. That detail matters. It shows the site is not being demolished. It is being held in a kind of limbo.
The company calls this a temporary economic shutdown. The duration is undetermined. RYAM says the business environment has become unsustainable. In an email seen by local media, a spokesperson said continued operations are no longer economically viable because of the magnitude of the tariffs. The Federation of Northern Ontario Municipalities warns that a prolonged shutdown could mean the loss of a skilled workforce and lasting damage to forestry-dependent communities. Témiscaming’s mayor, Alain Gauthier, who once worked for the company, called the tariffs a nuclear bomb for sectors that rely on U.S. markets.
I have seen this script before. A mill goes idle. The reason given is market conditions, or fibre costs, or a trade barrier. The workers are told it is temporary. Then the months stretch. Sometimes the doors reopen. Often they do not. In British Columbia this month, Domtar announced it is permanently closing its Howe Sound pulp mill and a chipping facility, affecting about 400 workers. The company pointed to reduced demand from Asia, poor global prices, and a decline in affordable domestic fibre. The language is familiar. Careful consideration. Not a reflection on the employees. Monitor market conditions. Evaluate future opportunities if conditions improve.
RYAM’s Témiscaming complex has already shed jobs. In July 2024, the company indefinitely suspended dissolving wood pulp production at the site, idling that plant. A recent quarterly filing noted about $40.9 million in charges tied to idling at Témiscaming and a $13 million impairment on the high-yield pulp side. Net sales in the second quarter reached $376 million, yet the company posted a $33 million net loss. Debt stood at $775 million with an 80 percent debt-to-capital ratio. These are not small numbers. They shape what a company can endure when a new tariff hits.
The tariff in question is part of a broader escalation. On August 22, the U.S. imposed tariffs of up to 50 percent on certain Canadian goods, including forest products. RYAM says those duties, layered on top of weak pulp and paper prices and prior operating losses, pushed the site past the breaking point. Some industry analysts argue that tariffs are not the only cause. They point to long-standing challenges in the sector, from fibre supply to global demand shifts. That debate will continue. What is not debatable is the immediate human cost.
More than 400 unionized workers are affected, along with managers, contractors, and suppliers who depend on the facility. The shutdown covers all site activities except the wastewater treatment plant and Boiler No. 4. That exception is not a sign of normal operations. It is a sign of a site being kept in a state where it could, in theory, restart. It also means a small crew remains while the majority are sent home with no restart date.
I think about the workers who were told in 2024 that high-purity cellulose production was being suspended indefinitely. Some may have found other roles. Some may have left the region. Now a second blow lands. The pattern is clear. A first idling weakens the ecosystem around a mill. A second idling makes it harder to reassemble the pieces even if trade policy shifts. Skills disperse. Suppliers find other customers. Towns adjust to a smaller economic base.
There is precedent for mills reopening after an idle, but it usually requires a clear path: a new owner, a new product line, or a sustained change in prices and policy. There is also precedent for temporary becoming permanent without anyone ever declaring it as such. The language stays cautious. The option remains open. The smokestacks stay cold.
What comes next depends on factors outside Témiscaming. Trade talks could ease duties. Pulp prices could firm. A buyer could see value in the assets. Or the site could remain in this suspended state while the company focuses on other operations. The pattern does not give certainty. It gives a range. In that range, the most likely near-term outcome is continued uncertainty for workers and the community, with the possibility of a restart if conditions improve and the possibility of a slow drift toward a permanent closure if they do not.
The human problem here is simple. A town loses its largest employer with no date to plan around. Families must decide whether to wait or to leave. Local businesses that sold to the mill must find new customers. The company says it will keep working with the union and governments to find a solution. That is the right thing to say. It is also the kind of sentence that can stretch for years while the boilers cool and the workforce scatters.
I do not know if this shutdown will become permanent. I do know what usually happens when a mill goes idle twice in a short span. The odds tilt against a quick return. The community bears the cost while the company watches the numbers. That is the pattern. It has played out from Quebec to British Columbia. It is playing out again now in Témiscaming.