Prince George, BC – As one of the short-term options to come out of the aftermath of the loss of the sawmill in Burns Lake, a jobs fair has been set for this Friday in the community…

Nechako Lakes MLA, John Rustad, says he’s been working in conjunction with the Village Office and says response from companies with operations nearby has been amazing.  "I’m anticipating we’ll have somewhere between 250 to 350 jobs, just locally, that will be at the fair."

Rustad says between Canfor and West Fraser, alone, there are approximately 110 jobs in relatively close proximity, at mill operations in Vanderhoof, Fraser Lake and Houston. 

He adds the expansion of Huckleberry Mine, 123-kilometres southwest of Houston, has Imperial Metals looking for 70 people right now and another 30 over the next year or so.  And Thompson Creek Metals is also looking for 70 people as a result of their expansion at the Endako Mine near Fraser Lake.

The local MLA says employers in the area were eager to help out.  He says he was aware of all the openings on the mining side, but was a little surprised by the number of openings on the forestry side.  The College of New Caledonia has a jobs and training fair for March, but has also jumped on-board for Friday’s event.

"And so, everybody is really pulling together with this," says Rustad.  "It’s a great response to what can only be described as a horrific situation."

The jobs fair runs from 9am until 4pm on Friday, February 10th at Muriel Mould Elementary School in Burns Lake.

He adds there are a number of companies with openings outside of the region that would like to participate, but says