The president of the Kamloops Chamber says there has been a local impact from sawmill closures and curtailments in communities nearby.

Joshua Knaak says Domtar, the largest tax payer in Kamloops, has been impacted by having costs go up for their products.

When asked to elaborate, a spokesperson for Domtar in South Carolina only sent a single-line email to NL News: “The Domtar Kamloops mill has been able to adjust and replace wood supply and is running at full production.” NL has followed up asking for a more detailed response.

Knaak points out the hit in Kamloops is negligible compared to communities directly affected by forestry cutbacks.

“I think Kamloops has gotten to a point where we’re no longer reliant on a single industry for our economy, but that’s not necessarily true on others. I think we are seeing people coming in, and it’s a good thing actually that our economy is strong right now, because we’re able to absorb many of those people. But still, I feel for the smaller communities,” Knaak says.

“While government has responded or there have been things done, it certainly seems like there’s not nearly as much attention being given to the wellbeing of the forest industry and to those smaller economies as there is when it’s another industry or maybe in another location of the province. We certainly need to have that focus here in the interior, just like there is in some of the more populated areas.”

So far this year at least 3,900 mill workers have been laid off across B.C.’s Interior.