BMI Group will redevelop Mackenzie’s former pulp and paper mill closed since 2021

VICTORIA — The mayor of a community in northern B.C. says it is ready to work with the new owners of a former paper mill closed since 2021.

Mackenzie Mayor Joan Atkinson says in a written statement that her community of some 3,300 residents has “weathered its share of ups and downs,” but continues to “show up for one another.”

Atkinson says Mackenzie is “resilient and ready to work with BMI to explore new opportunities” on the site of the former Mackenzie Paper Mill that once employed 250 people.

The company redevelops industrial and commercial sites that have run their course, and recently completed its acquisition of the mill once owned by Paper Excellence.

BMI says in a statement that the size and location of the site in a resource-rich district with rail and highway access points to a “range of possible” industrial and logistical uses in the future.

BMI Group chief executive officer Paul Veldman says the site, which will bear the name Willmarck Mackenzie, “represents an opportunity for renewal,” adding that the company will start its work by listening to the community.

Located at the south of Williston Lake some two hours north of Prince George, Mackenzie has had a long history of forestry.

But recent years have seen a number of curtailments and permanent closures in Mackenzie and other small resource-dependent communities like it, leading to job losses.

The provincial forestry industry also continues to grapple with U.S. tariffs, which have now reached 45 per cent, as part of the long-standing, still unresolved softwood lumber dispute.

This report by The Canadian Press was first published Oct. 19, 2025.