Since the 1950s, a member of the Picard family has been making a living at the Timmins sawmill.
In 1976, Rene Picard was in his early 20s and needed a job. He wasn’t a ‘school person,’ and he had family working at the sawmill.
He was hired; his job was piling lumber.
From there, he did almost every production job possible until retiring a couple years ago after four decades at the mill on the banks of the Mattagami River.
“It went quick. You always think, another 20 years, but it goes by so fast,” he said.
Rene loved working at the sawmill.
Having a family, it was nice being right in town with a 10-minute commute and having weekends off.
Working with a great group of guys helped.
Other than the odd person, Rene said everyone got along.
“I didn’t want to retire, I had a heart attack so that kind of pushed me on the need to retire. I’d still be here if I wouldn’t have had that heart attack,” Rene said.
His sons are carrying on the family tradition.
Joel is a supervisor and has been at the site for 26 years, and Marc is a planer production supervisor.
Marc’s story at the sawmill started in 1997 in the same way his dad’s did, piling lumber.
“Growing up with my family, my older brother worked here, obviously my dad provided for the family. He’d always talk about work, the camraderie, the friendships, I’ve always been fascinated by heavy equipment,” he said.
“Right out of high school once I graduated, I came, applied and got hired.”
Echoing his dad’s sentiments, Marc said he loves it at the sawmill.
“When your shift only starts at six and you’re here at quarter to five in the morning enjoying your coffee with the guys who are here...we always have one or two guys that show up really, really early. We don’t have to be here early, but there’s a difference between somebody that shows up that early and somebody that shows up when the buzzer rings,” said Marc.
Through the years, he’s had a number of positions.
“Definitely my highlight is the promotion to become staff. The hard work, the dedication — paid off,” Marc said.
The EACOM Timmins sawmill is celebrating its 100th anniversary this year.
That family atmosphere and opportunity for people working hard has been key to the site's success.
“Guys like Rene and Marc….they instill a certain work ethic, a certain team atmosphere, a certain family-type vibe, so when time’s are not good they really pull together as employees,” said general manager Marc Fleury.
“This has always been a high-producing facility, and it’s all because of the dedication of the guys and the teamwork and the atmosphere that they brought to the table and that they brought down through the generations. Because it’s still like that to this day.”
A lot has changed at the site over the years.
Since Rene started in the ‘70s, a new era of technology has emerged.
“(Rene’s) seen two mills. When he came, one mill..the sawmill had just been rebuilt, then in ‘81 he saw a whole new line put in, the mill retooled...all to new technology,” said Fleury.
In 2012, a fire destroyed half the operation.
It was rebuilt, and EACOM has been making investments to improve production.
A continuous kiln, for example, has boosted its capacity by continuously cycling lumber, speeding up the wood-drying process.
Over the years, Fleury said there’s also been a shift in culture.
In the past, he said production was priority, whereas now safety is the priority.
The success, wouldn't be possible without the staff, though.“This place works because of the employees and the employees always had work, we’ve never shut down because it wasn’t a profitable mill,” said Fleury.
Commmunity celebration
To celebrate the mill's centennial, a community celebration is being held this Friday, May 31 at Bozzer Park on Airport Road.
It runs from 11:30 a.m. to 5 p.m. and there will be a free community barbecue, games, children's activities, and a friendly softball showdown for employees.
You can keep up-to-date on the event here.
