On Friday, 26th January 2001 at 3:10 pm the last log was cut in TimberWest’s Youbou Sawmill. The thirty-six foot long fir log brought to a close seventy-three years of continuous production at the Youbou plant and a proud sawmilling history for the communities of Youbou and Lake Cowichan. As the last moments approached a radio call was relayed throughout the plant, it simply said, “Last log.” This was the signal for virtually every employee to gather around ‘A’ Mills, 42ft Carriage.

At 4:00 pm as the sawmill crew left work for the last time grim faced employees began to straggle out of the mill clutching pieces of the “Last Log” as a memento. Handshaking, hugging and tearful faces were everywhere. No one seemed to notice or even care that countless media TV crews were recording this. This was their moment, the chance to bid adieu to people they had worked with for as long as forty-eight years.

The above is an abridged copy of “The Last Hurrah” an article written by Keith Dickens shortly after mill closure.

TimberWest wanted to close the mill so that it could increase its raw log exports. After the mill was closed, local citizens staged a log truck count to track the number of trucks leaving the Cowichan Valley. Over four days 450 full logging trucks were tallied. This represents about 9,000 cubic metres per day or 1.8 million cubic metres per year, enough to keep a good-sized mill running for between three and four years and provide 200 well paid sawmill jobs and probably 400-600 jobs in spin-off industries. Put another way, over a three year period these jobs could put as much as $90 million into the local economy.

The BC government had a legal obligation to the people of Youbou in “Clause 7” of its timber agreement with TimberWest. But, when confronted with its obligation by workers, it was found that the government had signed off on TimberWest’s request to waive the clause. This is just another backroom deal in Victoria to sweeten the pot for big corporations. A law suite is pending alleging government negligence on behalf of those involved.

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