The company was established as NorskeCanada in 2000, when Norske Skog bought the majority of Fletcher Challenge Canada with Elk Falls Mill and Crofton Mill. The following year Pacifica Papers, operating Port Alberni Mill and Powell River Mill, was merged into the group. A recycling plant in Coquitlam was bought in 2003. The group took the Catalyst name in 2005 and the following year Norske Skog sold their shares. Snowflake Mill was bought in 2008. In the following two years the Elk Falls, Coquitlam and one machine at Crofton were shut down. Snowflake followed suit in 2012. The reason was falling demand for newsprint and increased cost of recycled paper. Catalyst reentered US production in 2015 with the purchase of Biron Mill and Rumford Mill.