Contrary to reports that Great Slave Helicopters will not be laying off Northern workers after a Saskatchewan-based owner purchased a number of its assets, at least one NWT employee has indeed been laid off.

Yellowknifer obtained a termination letter over the weekend to a Northern resident dated Nov. 26. The sale of most of Great Slave Helicopters' assets to a new company SA国际影视传媒淕reat Slave Helicopters 2018SA国际影视传媒� closed Nov. 23.

The letter provides a backgrounder about the company filing for bankruptcy protection on Sept. 4 and then tells the employee their employment was being terminated effective immediately.

The letter also states that amounts owing to the letter recipient SA国际影视传媒渋n lieu of notice or severance pay are an unsecured claim against the company.SA国际影视传媒�
Al Martin, now former company president of Great Slave Helicopters, explained that this means the employee has become an SA国际影视传媒渦nsecured creditorSA国际影视传媒� -- meaning they may never see the money owed to them because there might not be enough money left over from the sale of assets to pay them.

SA国际影视传媒淪o they may or may not get all or some of their money,SA国际影视传媒� said Martin. SA国际影视传媒淚t will be some time before that is sorted out.SA国际影视传媒�

Martin said SA国际影视传媒渜uite a numberSA国际影视传媒� of termination notices were handed out following the Nov. 23 sale closure but most of them went to employees in Calgary. Only a SA国际影视传媒渉andfulSA国际影视传媒� of the employees receiving notices live in the NWT.

SA国际影视传媒淥ut of (the sale), the new company has a set of employees and we -- the old company on the 26th - went through quite a number of terminations, mainly non-Northern. There were maybe one or two exceptions,SA国际影视传媒� said Martin.

SA国际影视传媒淚t was really just the end point of the old Great Slave (Helicopters). The old Great Slave (Helicopters) didn't work for a reason so the new Great Slave (2018) bought what they needed and we basically terminated quite a number of employees. We have been keeping on through the whole sale process until we knew what the outcome was. We tried to keep as many people for as long as we could. But as of last Monday (Nov. 26), we went through a lot of terminations.SA国际影视传媒�

Martin said the number of employees that remain now leaves SA国际影视传媒渁 significantly smaller but more Northern focused business.SA国际影视传媒�

Martin declined to provide absolute numbers of the number of employees remaining or the number of people laid off.

A current employee of the company, who wished to go unnamed, said there were about 80 people laid off and that about 35 remain.

Asked if this contradicts recent local media reports that the company would not be laying off Northern workers, Martin said no.

SA国际影视传媒淚t doesn't contradict, no. It is a transition. I know the reports that came from the new company is to go back to where Great Slave was years ago as a Northern company and doing what we were very good at,SA国际影视传媒� he said.

SA国际影视传媒淭he company grew and grew and the market didn't grow. It is not an unusual situation where a company grows and gets too big.SA国际影视传媒�

Aviation executive from Saskatchewan

According to a news release from Great Slave on Friday, the Ontario Superior Court approved the sale of the company's assets on Nov. 23. The new SA国际影视传媒淕reat Slave Helicopters 2018SA国际影视传媒� is owned by Pat Campling Jr., a longtime aviation executive from Saskatchewan.

Martin said Great Slave Helicopters still technically exists but is in a wind-down period as the new company takes over. According to court documents filed during the sale process, the company had been losing about $5 million a year and was $127 million in debt.

SA国际影视传媒淭he old GSH is going through a wind-down process where they are still collecting receivables or money owed so they can pay creditors what they can pay creditors,SA国际影视传媒� he said.
Martin said not all assets went to Campling Jr. as Delta Helicopters, a northern Alberta company, purchased one helicopter.

When contacted Monday, Campling Jr. said he would not comment on employees being terminated but recommended contacting Jennifer Burry, the new chief operating officer of Great Slave 2018. Repeated attempts to interview Burry this week were unsuccessful by press time.

Campling Jr. added his company has only been operating since last week.

SA国际影视传媒淚'm not getting involved in the personnel stuff,SA国际影视传媒� he said. SA国际影视传媒淎ll I have instructed them to do is that I want them to have the head office in the North and all the staff need to be in the North. That is my big push. We need to support the North.SA国际影视传媒�

When asked if Campling Jr. knew of any termination letters issued last week, he said he did not, but added that any layoffs would have been issued by the company preceding his own SA国际影视传媒� Great Slave Helicopters Ltd.

SA国际影视传媒淚 have no idea what the previous company did,SA国际影视传媒� he said. SA国际影视传媒淲e have only been operating since Thursday or Friday.SA国际影视传媒�

In September, News/North reported that Great Slave Helicopters was restructuring its operations and selling assets. Last March, Discovery Air, the helicopter's former parent company was granted creditor protection under the CompaniesSA国际影视传媒� Creditors Arrangement Act while it tried to sell its three subsidiary companies .

Adam Bembridge, president of Acasta Heliflight and ex-owner of Great Slave Helicopters, said his company has hired some former Great Slave employees since the termination letters were issued.

He couldn't say how many as of press time.

SA国际影视传媒淲e already have, for sure,SA国际影视传媒� he said. SA国际影视传媒淭he normal course of business and business when you're recruiting is a very competitive market. With our business, we have gone from six aircraft to operating 14 this summer. We intend on operating at least that many, if not a few more.SA国际影视传媒�