Since the dawn of civilization humans have sought out ways of communicating with each other through words, symbols and even crude images painted on cave walls. But there was always a need for a suitable and durable material on which to relay these messages. Enter the Egyptians and their use of papyrus some 5000 years ago. To this day, ancient documents, literature and records of their everyday life can be seen in museums throughout the world. The Greeks in 200 BC used parchment, which is basically refined animal skin, as a writing surface to record their daily lives. Finally, around 105 AD during the Han Dynasty, the Chinese were credited with inventing what is present-ly known as paper. Since then, mankind has utilized paper as the primary medium for recording virtually every aspect of society, culture, and religion. The invention off the printing press in 1440 by the German goldsmith Johannes Gutenberg revolutionized how books could be produced. His invention led to a massive spread of literature throughout the world and is considered one of the most significant inventions in history. Growing up, libraries were essential hubs of knowledge for most of us. This is where we re-searched and studied as students. Typing our essays or assignments on white bond paper usually followed. Nowadays, we needn’t peruse dusty books with confusing Dewey Decimal codes and sadly the typewriter is all but extinct. But that was the charm of it. So many printed items were part of our everyday lives growing up in the 60s and 70s. From my first library card to the Chum Chart we all used to gather around at Sams Records. Card-board signs in our front window alerting the milk man or the bakery for a needed home delivery that day! Instead of magazine racks in the bathroom with classics like Popular Mechanics, Archie comics or Readers Digest, we now have small handhelds to help readers digest. There was always a daily Toronto Star in our house, even though some of it ended up in the bird cage, or rolled into logs for our fireplace, it was a valued source of information. The paper route itself was a boon to many young people as a safe and easy way to earn money often providing enough to put a downpayment on a first car. Books could be bought from travel-ling door to door salesmen, pitching their twelve volume Funk and Wagnalls New World Encyclopedias as being essential for our young minds.
Photo by John Dokurno
Today, digital media has fast become our chosen source for information but not without consequences. For example, companies that produce pulp for paper manufacturing have always been a main stay of our northern communities, but are now suffering the impact of the decreased demand for their product, jeopardizing critical jobs in communities in which there is historically little else. Recently, Kap Paper in Kapuskasing was facing complete closure, endangering the jobs of hundreds of workers including thousands of local forestry related jobs. The mill has been supplying the Canadian pa-per industry since 1922 and has been an essential part of this small community’s economy. Kap’s CEO recently told the House of Commons Standing Committee on Natural Resources that the pulp and paper business “has run its course” The company has been surviving on loans from both the federal and provincial governments and was able to call back its workforce but is now faced with a complete redesign of their mill to produce engineered wood products. Not so fortunate in Espinola where Domtar closed its pulp mill for good in 2023 putting 450 people out of work. The Espanola Mill had been operating since the early 1900s and according to their website provided an estimated 380 million dollars of regional economic impact. Hard to replace numbers like that. Out of 21 pulp and paper mills that were once operating in Ontario only 3 remain. Thankfully, pulp exports to the US are exempt from tariffs imposed under Mr. Trump’s regime for the moment or things might look much bleaker for our paper industry.
Not all is gloom and doom with the print-ed word, however. Some recent statistics show that nearly 85% of adults in Canada get their news in print or digital form on a weekly basis and over half of those read-ers choose physical print. Similarly, the majority of book readers in Canada also choose printed copy over digital.
Recently, The Wayback Times has felt the pressure of keeping the printed word relevant. Our original printer ceased operations last year and left us scrambling to find a suitable replacement. This was no easy task, as many printers we contacted were unable to fulfill our volume requirements due to the size of their operation. There is simply no demand for large scale printing anymore. Luckily, we found a publisher, but the papers have to be printed in Montreal, adding a significant shipping cost to our bottom line. The Wayback Times is committed to keeping our traditional printed word format for as long as economically possible and we can’t thank our advertisers and faithful readers enough for their support in keeping this unique publication relevant.
As a side note, kudos to our juggernaut Blue Jays for their spectacular World Series performance against the Dodgers. Never has there been a Canada vs the US sporting event so appropriate for the times. I’m confident this team will be in contention for the foreseeable future. I do wonder if Mr. Trump would have invited the team to the White House had we won. I think not.