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Sergio Baran, a greenhouse worker, said he heard estimates that 90 workers from his home country of Guatemala had lost their jobs at the Delta facility and another 160 at Aldergrove. They expect the company to give them severance cheques soon and tickets home next week, he said.

Elias Salomon, who came on a six-year permit but will return to Guatemala after just two years, had mixed feelings about the layoffs.

“For now, I think all is over right? I’m waiting for (a) new opportunity in this in Canada. Maybe I have, maybe not yet,” he said. “I’m feeling a little bit sad but I am excited to be back at home. It’s been a long time here. I miss the family, too.”

Salomon said he had been supporting his wife and two children back home. He said Canopy has been looking after the workers and keeping them well-informed about the process. But while he and his colleagues expect to be on planes next week, many would be grateful for the opportunity to instead continue working on another B.C. farm, he said.

“It’s a business decision, right?” he said. “But it’s over so right now we are waiting for the flights and we will go home soon.”

The 1.3-million-square-foot Aldergrove facility and another 1.7 million sq. ft. of space in Delta make up two-thirds of Canopy’s total licensed operations. The firm spent $400 million in early 2018 to buy the B.C. greenhouses and hired hundreds of workers. It had hoped for the “B.C. Tweed” facilities, as they were known, to generate the bulk of supply to its processing headquarters in Ontario.