They grew up sliding down the wood chip piles at the family-owned sawmill in the green one-storey building next door, on “Arsenault Mill Road.” Now Janelle, and her twin sister Janine, own the business. With a “little bit of hydraulic oil,” and a loan from CBDC Central PEI, the Arsenault sisters were able to bring the family back into the sawmill business after a 14-year hiatus.  

“Arsenault Family Lumber” was started by the Arsenault sisters in May 2021. The family business, “Arsenault Sawmill Ltd.,” got out of the sawmill side of the lumber industry in 2007.  Their grandfather, Pepe Franky Arsenault, started the business in 1948, after he got back from the Second World War. Their father, Leonce, had been running it for as long as Janelle can remember.  

The business was always a part of their lives, responsible for detours on family vacations so they could check on a piece of equipment, or other long drives with their father.  

“He’d bring us to the mills, and talk to us,” Janelle said. “But it wasn’t something that I loved or enjoyed.” 

It wasn’t until Janelle was directly involved in the industry that an interest truly took hold. No one cares about a business quite like the owner.  

“Now I’m really interested in it,” she said. “Being hands on really did it for me.”.  

After their mom passed away, Janelle and Janine started helping with some aspects of the family business, which is focused more on logging and other facets of the lumber industry. Inevitably, supper conversations around the long wooden table surrounded by windows, with old logs piled directly outside, would turn to the news in the industry.  

When the price of building materials famously skyrocketed, a sawmill once again looked like a pretty attractive business. 

The building across from where they grew up was still there. The equipment was mostly still there. A lot of the workers, including the previous saw operator and foreman were still around and interested in coming back. Having a dedicated and knowledgeable workforce ready to go is a rare and extremely valuable asset.   

“We call them our bosses,” Janelle said. “They know more than I do.” 

A generator did need to be fixed. And most importantly — a sawmill can’t operate without logs to cut.  

“We needed funds, obviously,” Janelle said.  

Janine started on a business plan, and then their accountant recommended contacting the CBDC.  

“They were amazing,” Janelle said.  

The CBDC listened to their ideas, helped refine the business plan, and then presented the plan on behalf of the sisters to get approval for the loan. It didn’t take long after that to receive the funds, and officially be in business.  

They’ve been off to a good start. Sourcing their lumber directly from Prince Edward Island and establishing a customer base right on the island as well. They now pride themselves on personalized service — hand loading all the orders and being able to cut lumber to any dimension a customer may want. The long hours are starting to pay off.  

“You learn as you go,” Janelle said. “The first year I worked, I probably put in 80-90 hours a week, but then you learn that you can’t do that. You can do the same amount of work in a 50-hour work week, and you get the same results.” 

In a lot of ways, it turns out the sisters absorbed more knowledge from the two previous generations than they realized while they were growing up. 

“My dad always said, the most important thing … on a Friday, you need to pay your men first, no matter what. Then it’s fuel!” Janelle said.  “But it’s true. They’re the most important.”