Cascades celebrates 60 years

This year marks the 60^th anniversary of Kingsey Falls, Quebec-based packaging company Cascades Inc., and the company officially celebrated the milestone March 26, noting several other projects to be launched throughout this year to commemorate the milestone.

“This day will be an opportunity to remember our history and to shine a light on the builders who came before us and created one of the most responsible companies in the world,” Cascades President and CEO Mario Plourde says. “Today, and throughout the year, we will proudly celebrate our successes together with our 10,000 Cascaders with whom we will build the Cascades of tomorrow.”

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As part of the anniversary festivities, Cascades also announced a donation of about 287 acres (116 hectares) of “ecologically valuable” land to the Nature Conservancy of Canada. The land, a peat bog and, therefore, a wetland, was acquired in the early 1960s by the Lemaire family—the founders of Cascades. The land is located in Saint-Sylvère, Quebec, and the company says it is being given to the conservancy to “ensure its longevity and the survival of its species and ecosystems for future generations.”

Other projects announced in conjunction with the anniversary are the company’s “Together, we remember” video series that includes conversations with longtime Cascades employees; an initiative beginning this spring in which local artists will create murals on several Cascades plants; and implementing employees’ ideas for integrating better environmental or social practices into the workplace, with a goal to complete 60 projects in one year.

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“Sixty years ago, my brothers moved to Kingsey Falls, a small village of just a few hundred inhabitants, to bring the old mill back to life,” Cascades co-founder and Executive Chair Alain Lemaire says. “They had an idea that was daring for the time—to make cardboard from wastepaper. We invested our entire lives, our family and our hearts into the pursuit of this larger-than-life dream.

“Today, I’m proud of what we’ve accomplished. I’m grateful to all the generations of Cascaders who have shared in our life’s work.”