Job placement offices have now opened for displaced workers in the forest industry, in the North Thompson and several other regions.

The province has announced the opening of five job placement offices, which are in Clearwater, 100 Mile House, Fort St James, Mackenzie and Fort St John.

Clearwater mayor Merlin Blackwell says the local office has a former Canfor Mill worker from Vavenby and a civil service member.

“This has been in the works for quite a while, and actually the stumbling block has been locally hiring the civil servant to work with Ryan. I think they actually went through three applicants before they got one that stuck. But they have hired somebody local on the civil service side. So that’s why it’s taken a little bit longer for Clearwater, considering the Vavenby operation was one of the first mills to go down.”

Blackwell says the job placement office is not just for displaced mill workers by for contractors as well.

The province has spent $2 million to open those job placement co-ordination offices, which are part of the $69-million-dollar forestry relief fund that was allocated last year.