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Plant idling not TFN decision

The idling of the Graymont lime plant at Pavilion was not the idea of the Ts'kw'aylawx First Nation

Dear Editor,

I want to thank you for the article that you published in The Ashcroft–Cache Creek Journal regarding the idling of our Pavilion operations (“Graymont Pavilion plant to be idled indefinitely in July”, April 28). I thought the article was very well written; however, there was one particular comment that is causing some grief within the Ts’kw’aylawx First Nation (TFN) community.

The article states that “Employees were notified of the decision on April 22, after Graymont had received the approval of the TFN chief and council. ‘We have a pretty strong relationship with them,’ says [Rob] Beleutz, noting that the company wanted to ensure that employees were informed as soon as possible. ‘Some have been here for many years, and we’ll be meeting with the employees, the union, and the band for important discussions in the next few weeks.’”

The way the comment is written sounds like the Chief and Council of TFN approved the idling of the operations. As you can imagine, the Chief and Council did not approve the idling; this was strictly a Graymont decision.

Rob Beleutz

Health, Safety and Environmental Manager

(Western Canada) Graymont