What's happening
On April 14, 2026, North Vancouver City Council rejected Chemtrade Logistics' application to rezone and extend its facility lease. Without this approval, planned safety investments cannot proceed and the long-term future of the operation is in jeopardy.
UPDATE: City Council has voted to reconsider the motion! Stay tuned here for updates.
Unifor Local 697 represents the 77 workers who operate and maintain this facility around the clock. We are calling on Council to reconsider.
Why this facility matters
The North Vancouver Chemtrade facility is Canada's largest producer of chlorine products, supplying more than 40 per cent of the country's drinking water treatment needs.
The facility also produces sodium hydroxide and hydrochloric acid, which are used in wastewater treatment, pulp and paper, mining, and manufacturing across Western Canada.
Closing this facility does not eliminate the need for these products. It moves production outside Canada, beyond the reach of our labour and environmental standards.
This facility is safe because of the people who work here
Our members are certified, highly trained professionals. Every operator holds at minimum a 4th Class Power Engineering certification. Many have decades of experience; becoming a fully qualified operator at this site takes six to eight years.
The facility runs an active Joint Health and Safety Committee with worker and management representatives. It also maintains an eight-person CHLOREP emergency response team that trains alongside local fire departments and first responders.
Our members work at this facility. They also live in North Vancouver and the surrounding communities, some for multiple generations. Their safety, and the safety of their neighbours, is personal.
The investments Chemtrade proposed would have made this already safe facility even safer. Blocking the lease extension stops those upgrades from happening.
Add your voice
Workers, neighbours, and anyone who relies on safe drinking water has a stake in this decision.
We are asking North Vancouver Council to meet with the workers who keep this facility running and hear directly from them before this decision becomes final.
