Tariff Fallout Threatens Survival of Historic Canadian Mill Town

As you cross the Ottawa River into Témiscaming, Quebec, the paper mill dominates the horizon, a towering symbol of the community’s heritage.

The town itself was built over a century ago, centered around the mill and the region’s vast forests, rich with pine, birch, spruce, and fir. Today, the community’s primary employer and economic anchor sits idle, following the collapse of trade talks between Canada and the United States and the subsequent imposition of tariffs by President Donald Trump.

With the trade dispute unresolved, most of the mill’s 360 employees find themselves out of work, surviving on partial pay from government tariff-relief programs.

For residents like Nadine Suley, the closure of the mill represents more than just a loss of income; it threatens an entire way of life. Suley, who describes herself as far from “a city girl,” plans to go moose hunting to secure food during the short season, joking that many in town will rely on wild game to help them get by.

“It’s not just a job. It’s our home,” Suley explains, describing the US tariffs as feeling like a “personal attack” on her community.

In early October, the mill’s American owner, RYAM, initiated an “economic shutdown” of the facility for an “indefinite period.”

The economic shock has rippled through the housing market, with property values plummeting almost overnight. “For Sale” signs now dot the yards of the modest, middle-class homes that characterize the town.

Community leaders and residents fear that essential service workers, ranging from grocery store clerks to the doctors at the local hospital, may also be forced to leave.

“If the mill goes down, it’ll turn into a ghost town,” warns Ronnie Raymond, a local resident who, like many others, comes from a family of mill workers. “There’ll be nothing, nothing left. There’s no work for anybody, really. It’s scary.”

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