Chi Mino office opens in Fort William First Nation
FORT WILLIAM FIRST NATION – As rain fell, dozens applauded and a TV news camera captured the moment, Chi Mino Ozhitoowin’s chief executive officer cut the ribbon Friday at the grand opening of the First Nations partnership’s new office.
Chi Mino is a for-profit organization focused on training workers for construction of the Waasigan Transmission Line to carry electricity from the Lakehead Transformer Station in Shuniah to the Mackenzie station in Atikokan and then on to Dryden.
Fort William is one of seven First Nations in the Chi Mino partnership, along with Eagle Lake, Lac Seul, Saugeen, Seine River, Nigigoonsiminikaaning (Red Gut) and Gakijiwanong (Lac La Croix).
Peter Collins, Chi Mino’s CEO, said their goal is to see 40 per cent of employment in the Waasigan project be First Nations workers.
“And how we get there is through the determination of the Chi Mino group here that we have and connecting with all the communities,” he said.
Chi Mino has formed partnerships with Confederation College, Seven Generations Education Institute and others for worker training.
Visiting First Nations for worker recruitment “has been absolutely spectacular,” Collins said.
“The Elders really teach us a lot when we get in the communities, guide us on what we should be doing when we come to their communities and make sure we’re following the protocols of our communities,” he said.
Collins said the project’s worker needs include heavy equipment operators, surveyors, cooks and “environmental people – whatever it needs to be that’ll get the project completed in a good way.”
Located at the Anemki Place address formerly occupied by Ontario Works, the Chi Mino office is among the more than 150,000 square feet of commercial office space owned by Fort William First Nation.
“As a signatory to the organization, we are certainly pleased to host the organization as one of our tenants,” Ian Bannon, the First Nation’s interim CEO, told Dougall Media after the grand opening.
“We’re pleased to have them as a tenant to one of our 13 office complexes that we manage here in Fort William First Nation.”
Nine First Nations – the seven CMO partners, plus Lac des Mille Lacs and Wabigoon Lake – are in a partnership with Hydro One in the Waasigan Transmission Line project.
Collins has said the line, which will bring 350 megawatts of electricity to places northwest of Thunder Bay, is “a legacy opportunity for our communities.”
It was scheduled to be constructed and in service by the end of 2027, but the province’s environmental assessment process for the line has not yet closed.
Mike Stimpson, Local Journalism Initiative Reporter, Thunder Bay Source
