THUNDER BAY – Power from stable, reliable electricity is one winter away for thousands of Pikangikum First Nation residents.
Indigenous and Northern Affairs Minister Carolyn Bennett on Thursday announced up to $60 million in federal government funding to connect Pikangikum to the provincial energy grid through the Wataynikaneyap Power project that aims to electrify nearly two dozen remote First Nations communities.
Pikangikum Chief Dean Owen said the community, which has an on-reserve population of more than 3,000, has been steadily growing over the past decade with their existing diesel generating station operating at capacity since 2010.
The increasing demands for power, and deteriorating condition of the diesel generating equipment, have resulted in frequent failures, power outages and rolling brownouts.
“It was within the last couple of years during the winter months community members have started dreading another winter coming where our power, as a community, would be causing problems,” Owen said, referencing multiple state of emergency declarations.
“Our health staff wanted to leave during those times when the power was out. Our educators wanted to leave because their units were electric heated during the winter months. Water lines servicing the few buildings for Health Canada and education would freeze overnight.”
The impacts of the unreliable energy supply are apparent in the community. When Pikangikum goes dark, life-saving medical procedures such as dialysis treatment get interrupted and planes attempting to come to the community for medical evacuations can’t land because the airport lights are off.
In addition, more than 80 per cent of existing homes in the community are without water and sewer service.
The maxed out diesel generating stations limit new housing construction and leads to overcrowded dwellings, evident after a fatal house fire in March 2016 claimed nine lives. As well, community leaders have grappled with an ongoing suicide crisis that has continued into this year with the deaths of two young girls during the Canada Day weekend.
“Clean electrification is connected to so many good outcomes for Pikangikum,” Bennett said. “The community’s growth will no longer be restricted, meaning new housing and a new nurses station, and longer term better water treatment facilities.”
Providing basic infrastructure is about ensuring residents in remote communities maintain dignity, pride and hope, Bennett said. Earlier this summer she announced funding for an upgraded water treatment plant in Neskantaga First Nation that would end the longest active drinking water advisory in Canada.
“Most Canadians don’t know that there are places in this country you can’t turn on the tap and drink the water or you can’t flip a switch and assume you’re going to get light,” Bennett said.
“This is now a realization of the tragic effects of colonization and decades of underfunding and colonial practices that didn’t work where somebody else set the priorities of what was possible and what wasn’t possible.”
Pikangikum, home to 900 school-aged children, opened the doors of its new kindergarten to Grade 12 school last fall.
“All of the work that we’re doing is geared towards our youth, the future of our youth,” Owen said. “This certainly will bring change and a secure future for our youth in the years to come.
Construction of the 117-kilometre distribution line from Red Lake to Pikangikum is targeted to start in October, with a desired completion in November 2018.
Margaret Kenequanash, the chief executive officer of Wataynikaneyap Power, said extending the grid to Pikangikum is a milestone for the project.
“There are a lot of doors that are opened up (Thursday),” Kenequanash said. “I think the fact that there’s commitment by both levels of government to bring the line into Pikangikum opens the door also to connect communities on the west side.”
