Domtar has reached a deal with the Tla’amin Nation in Powell River to return an historical village site now occupied by the shuttered Catalyst paper mill.
In a joint press release, the Tla’amin and Domtar – a subsidiary of the Paper Excellence Group – today announced that a “significant portion” of the 300-acre site owned by Domtar and occupied by the now-shuttered pulp and paper mill, will be returned to the Tla’amin.
As BIV has previously reported, in 2022, when Paper Excellence put the shuttered Catalyst mill up for sale, the Tla’amin laid claim to the entire 300-acre industrial waterfront site.
In 2023, the B.C. government began work with the Tla’amin to recover a former village site, called tiskwat, for the Tla’amin. The Tla’amin were relocated from the village nearly 150 years ago.
The Tla’amin have signed a modern treaty, which is still in the implementation stage. The possibility of returning the village site to the Tla’amin was not originally contemplated in the treaty, and only became an option when Paper Excellence shuttered the Catalyst mill and put the property up for sale.
It's not clear at this point whether the former Domtar property being deeded over to the Tla'amin would become treaty title land or remain fee simple, though there typically are provisions in modern treaties for lands acquired post-treaty implementation to become added as treaty title lands.
Under the new agreement, a “large portion” of the mill site will be acquired by the Tla’amin, with the remaining land to be sold by Domtar.
“While a large portion of the former mill site will be acquired by the Tla’amin Nation, a segment of land will be sold by Domtar to one or more third parties that will engage in industrial redevelopment,” the joint press release states. “This will ensure that these lands will also continue to create economic benefits for the broader community well into the future.”
A spokesperson for the Tla’amin confirmed that about half of the 300-acre site will go to the Tla'amin, with the land to be deeded over in a number of non-contiguous parcels.
The City of Powell River had hoped that the former paper mill site could be redeveloped for some other industry, as the Catalyst mill had been a significant employer and industrial taxpayer.
The release states that some of the land will still be available for economic development.
“The reacquired lands primarily front the river and ocean and are among the least industrialized areas at tiskwat,” the joint press release states. “Tla’amin Nation will manage portions of the land for cultural and environmental values while developing the more industrialized lands to spur regional economic growth.”
“There’s a lot of potential for economic development, so that’s definitely a big driver,” said Tla’amin Nation executive councillor Dillon Johnson. “We heard a lot from our community members that they wanted to see us advance economic proposals and projects down at tiskwat.”
