ATIKOKAN, Ontario — Sawmills near Atikokan and Ignace will temporarily shut down over the Christmas holidays. United Steelworkers Local 1-2010 president Jacques Jean confirmed to Newswatch both facilities will pause operations for just over two weeks starting Dec. 19, with a scheduled re-start on Jan 5, 2026. He said it’s an unusual move — particularly for the facility in Sapawe, located about 30 kilometres east of Atikokan. The Ignace sawmill saw a month-long shutdown last Christmas, along with a halving of its operating hours as of Nov. 25, 2024. Domtar, which owns both sawmills, hasn’t responded to a request for comment from Newswatch. In Atikokan, Mayor Rob Ferguson said he was informed by mill management in mid-October about the planned idling, saying the company is taking some of their inventory “out of the market.” …“All the forest industry is so intertwined – it’s such a circular economy that when one group goes down, it affects everybody else,” said Ferguson.