Our History

In 1971, the New York firm of Parsons & Whittemore, who were at the time owners of Prince Albert Pulp, built the Meadow Lake Sawmill. Ten years later, the Province of Saskatchewan acquired all of the wood product mill assets of Parson & Whittemore. In 1984, the Prince Albert pulp mill was sold to Weyerhaeuser, while ownership of the Meadow Lake Sawmill was retained by the Province of Sasktchewan.

in 1987, the employees of Meadow Lake Sawmill and the Meadow Lake Tribal Council formed a consortium and bought the sawmill from the Province of Saskatchewan. The consortium negotiated a Forest Management License Agreement (FMLA) with the province and commenced operation under the name NorSask Forest Products Inc.

In early 1998, the Meadow Lake Tribal Council became sole owner of NorSask, becoming the largest First Nations owned forest products company in Canada. Currently, the mill has doubled its 1988 production with premium lumber shipped across North America. NorSask utilizes approximately 500,000 m3 of softwood timber to produce over 110 million board feet of lumber annually.

Today, the mill's production facilities are in excellent shape and plans are being made for secondary industries such as wood heat and the production of wood pellets. Cooperative management agreements with northern communities will ensure that the mill’s activities will benefit all northerners.