Archive photograph of the early Lecours Lumber mill

Our History

Family owned since 1943. Three generations of the Lecours family, one mill, and a motto that still guides us.

80+ Years of Family Leadership

From a family operation started during the Second World War to a mill producing over 100 million board feet a year.

  1. 1943

    Arthur Lecours founds the company

    Arthur Lecours starts Lecours Lumber in Northern Ontario. [confirm: first location, what the first mill produced]

    Archive photo of the Lecours Lumber operation in the 1940s
  2. 1963

    The next generation takes over

    Arthur sells the business to his sons, keeping it in the family.

    Archive photo of the Lecours brothers at the mill in the 1960s
  3. [confirm year]

    Ben Lecours becomes owner

    Benoit “Ben” Lecours becomes owner of the company. His motto — « Qui n’avance pas, recule! » — sums up the way he ran it: keep investing, keep improving, keep moving forward.

  4. 1980s–1990s

    Growth through acquisitions

    The company grows through acquisitions, adding timber supply and production capacity. [confirm: which operations or licences were acquired, and when]

    Archive photo of the mill during its expansion in the 1980s and 1990s
  5. 2023

    Roger Lecours, sole proprietor

    Ben’s son Roger Lecours becomes sole proprietor, leading the third generation of the family business.

  6. Today

    Over 100 million board feet a year

    Our sawmill and planing facilities in Calstock produce over 100 million board feet of softwood lumber a year from FSC® certified timber, shipped by truck and rail across Canada and the United States.

    The Lecours Lumber mill in Calstock today

« Qui n’avance pas, recule! »

“Those who don’t move forward fall behind.”

— Ben Lecours

Share Your Photos

Do you have old photos of the mill, the camps or the people who worked here? We’d love to add them to our history. Please get in touch.

Meet the people behind the mill

The family and the team that keep Lecours Lumber moving forward.