While the City of Thunder Bay struggles to maintain its current population level, neighbouring Fort William First Nation is dealing with what amounts, by comparison, to a population boom.
According to Statistics Canada 2016 census data, the First Nation had 981 on-reserve residents last year.
That’s a 14% increase from the 2011 census.
Chief Peter Collins told tbnewswatch.com that he is “not really too surprised” to hear that, adding “our community is growing.”
“We’re building houses on a regular basis, our people are migrating back to the community where they wanna be. There’s just a lot of different factors,” he said.
As examples, Collins cited federal legislation and a court decision that allowed more qualified individuals to obtain status under the Indian Act, along with younger residents of the First Nation starting to have families.
But he said growth in the community is also proving to be a test for its resources.
“We’re always trying to find different ways to look at housing. It’s a challenge we are dealing with every day,” Collins said.
