'The talk in the town is positive,' How Espanola, Ont. is faring with an idle mill

It's been a little over six months since Domtar indefinitely idled the pulp and paper mill in Espanola, Ont., and put 450 jobs on the chopping block.

Some feared the shutdown would depress the local economy, with workers and their families moving out and the value of homes depreciating. 

But so far these dreaded outcomes have not materialized. 

Enrolment numbers at A.B. Ellis Public School and the Espanola High School remain relatively unchanged, with only about 10 fewer students projected to attend each institution in the fall of 2024 compared to the year before, according to data from the Rainbow District School Board. 

Numbers have also remained pretty consistent on the real estate front. 

"I think if we were going to have a major impact in the housing market, we probably would have seen it already," said Chloe Bichette, owner of local independent firm Claudine Bichette Real Estate Brokerage. 

Bichette says there's been a steady flow of clients and transactions in the past months despite the idling of the mill. 

"We see people who move here from Sudbury because our housing stock is a little less expensive than the bigger cities and we've seen quite a migration of people from Southern Ontario as well," she said. 

Bichette adds that if some houses remain on the market for extended periods or lose their value, it's usually due to other external factors, including interest rates. 

The Unifor Action Centre is also striking an optimistic tone.

That initiative launched last December to offer workshops, training sessions, career advice and counselling for those impacted by the closure of the mill. 

"We've aided quite a large number of our membership to get new licences and training opportunities," said co-ordinator Johnathan Nadeau, citing the DZ commercial truck licence program being offered on a reimbursement basis.

He says a voluntary survey conducted among the 250 former mill workers represented by Unifor Local 74 suggests about 35 per cent of them are still looking for their new permanent jobs.