Major employers in Castlegar

12 employers, 6 of them head offices: 5 worldwide, 0 national and 1 regional. Headcounts are for the site here, with the page that publishes them.

Castlegar — the /local page · Who owns Castlegar · Who represents Castlegar · Companies

Employers12
Worldwide HQ5
National HQ0
Regional HQ1
1

Employers, largest first

People employed at the site in this city where a source publishes it; head offices without a published count follow.

CompanyHereEmployees hereWorldwide HQJobs
Selkirk CollegeEducational services — public collegeWorldwide HQglobal (public college; head campus in Castlegar)6902022Castlegar, British ColumbiaCareers →
Mercer Celgar (Celgar pulp mill) — Mercer Celgar Limited PartnershipManufacturing — kraft pulp mill (NBSK), with surplus power and tall oil salespart of Mercer International Inc.Major site4412022Vancouver, British Columbia—
Kalesnikoff Mass Timber / Kalesnikoff LumberManufacturing — sawmill and mass timber (CLT, glulam)Worldwide HQglobal (family-owned company; sawmill and first mass timber plant at Thrums, just outside Castlegar; new mass timber facility in the City of Castlegar)3202024Castlegar area (Thrums), British ColumbiaCareers →
Columbia Basin TrustPublic administration — regional development trust; hydropower investmentpart of Province of British ColumbiaWorldwide HQglobal (regional Crown-created trust for the Canadian Columbia Basin; offices in Castlegar, Nakusp, Cranbrook and Golden)852022Castlegar, British ColumbiaCareers →
City of Castlegar (incl. West Kootenay Regional Airport)Public administration — local government; airport operationMajor site702025Castlegar, British ColumbiaCareers →
Growth Financial Corp.Finance — insurance brokerage and investment servicesWorldwide HQglobal (insurance brokerage; offices in Castlegar, Creston, Greenwood, Kelowna, Slocan Park and Trail)552022Castlegar, British ColumbiaCareers →
Columbia Power CorporationUtilities — hydroelectric power generationpart of Province of British ColumbiaWorldwide HQglobal (provincial Crown corporation; operates Arrow Lakes, Brilliant, Brilliant Expansion and Waneta Expansion generating stations)—Castlegar, British ColumbiaCareers →
BC Wildfire Service — Southeast Fire CentrePublic administration — provincial wildfire managementpart of Province of British ColumbiaRegional HQSoutheast Fire Centre (US border to Mica Dam, Monashees to the Alberta border)—Victoria, British ColumbiaCareers →
Golden Life Management — Castle Wood VillageHealth care — seniors' housing, assisted living and residential carepart of Golden Life Management CorporationMajor site—Cranbrook, British ColumbiaCareers →
Interfor — Castlegar DivisionManufacturing — sawmill (dimensional lumber)part of Interfor CorporationMajor site—Burnaby, British ColumbiaCareers →
Interior Health — Castlegar and District Community Health CentreHealth care — community health centrepart of Interior Health AuthorityMajor site—Kelowna, British ColumbiaCareers →
School District No. 20 (Kootenay-Columbia) — Castlegar schoolsEducation — K-12 public school districtMajor site—Trail, British ColumbiaCareers →
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Notes on this record

  • Thin record: the coordinator stopped this run early for budget, so only four employers were verified on their own sites.
  • The City's 2025 Annual Report says the local economy centres on forestry (Mercer-Celgar Mill, Interfor, Kalesnikoff), energy (Columbia Power, FortisBC and BC Hydro), mining (Teck) and commercial services. Not yet added, because their own sites were not opened: Mercer Celgar (mercerint.com returned 403 to our UA, so it is blocked), Columbia Power Corporation and Columbia Basin Trust (both likely Castlegar head offices; robots.txt allows us, but the pages were not read), Interior Health (Castlegar & District Community Health Centre), BC Wildfire Service Southeast Fire Centre (at the airport, according to the City report), FortisBC and BC Hydro.
  • The Regional District of Central Kootenay office is in Nelson, not Castlegar. Teck's Trail operations belong in the ca-trail record.
  • The Castlegar & District Economic Development Partnership's robots.txt disallows ClaudeBot/anthropic-ai, so its site was not used.
  • Deepen pass 2026-10-30: added careers pages and Mercer Celgar, Columbia Basin Trust, Columbia Power, Interior Health community health centre, BC Wildfire Southeast Fire Centre, SD20 Castlegar schools and Growth Financial.
  • Mercer Celgar's current owner (checked 2026-10-30): still Mercer International, via Mercer Celgar Limited Partnership, per the 2025 10-K. No Celgar sale or closure appears in the 8-Ks filed through 2 Oct 2026; the July 2026 workforce cuts are at Mercer Torgau in Germany. mercerint.com returns 403 to robots.txt, so it has no careers link.
  • Left out: Canada Safeway Castlegar (KootenayBiz 105; safeway.ca returned 403 on robots.txt in an earlier pass). No venture-funded software or tech company with its head office in Castlegar was found. Kalesnikoff's government contributions are grants, not venture funding, so they are not recorded as funding.
  • FortisBC's careers site names contact centres in Burnaby, Prince George and Trail, so FortisBC goes in ca-trail.
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Sources

Prepared 2026-10-30. Each headcount links to the page it is read from; each company to its own site or its /company page.