Chief Dwayne Laboucan, Tolko’s David Bickerton

Tolko Industries and Driftpile Cree Nation have signed an agreement to operate a part of the High Prairie OSB plant. Documents were signed Oct. 5 at the mill that will re-open to its full capacity in January. “This is a milestone for Driftpile and Tolko,” says Driftpile Chief Dwayne Laboucan. “Working with Drift- pile shows that Tolko supports First Nations.” Driftpile signed a contract to operate the logyard service, which involces unloading all logging trucks, decking the logs and feeding them into the mill, says David Bickerton, general manager of prairie woodlands with Tolko. …When fully operational, the mill will employ up to 175 people directly and 225 indirectly. …The proposed harvesting plan has been drafted in consultation with Aboriginal, Metis and general communities. …The plan must be approved by Alberta Agriculture and Forestry.