2011-04-05 at 17:16
Leith Dunick, tbnewswatch.com
J.P. Gladu, project lead for Wawasum Corporation.
The joint project between Bingwi Neyaashi Anishnaabek and Animbiigoo Zaagi’igan Anishnaabek First Nations is expected to create 20 new jobs, providing industry and employment in a region of the province where both are few and far between, said J.P. Gladu, project lead for Wawasum Corporation, the company heading the development.
“This is an opportunity to start developing our First Nations from the ground up with meaningful employment opportunities and business,” Gladu said.
“Our community is going to thrive. We’re going to look back on this in a decade or two decades from now and say, that was the legacy project, those are the projects that actually got us off the ground to a healthy start. It’s momentous.”
Bingwi Neyaashi Anishnaabek First Nation Chief Paul Gladu, choked up with emotion when asked at a news conference on Tuesday to describe the magnitude of the news, made possible first by the province agreeing to a wood allocation of 113,000 cubic meters of poplar and white birch.
Ontario, through the Northern Ontario Heritage Fund Corporation, is also contributing $1 million toward the construction of the pellet plant.
“It’s an historical day for us to have this announcement to move ahead,” the chief said. “It’s not just for our communities, it’s for the surrounding communities … To have this opportunity to be able to service the big mills and create jobs, it’s great.”
AZA Chief Yvette Metansinine called is a huge step for her young community.
“We got our reserve status a couple of years ago,” she said. “For our two small communities, getting approved through the competitive process is incredible.”
Minister of Northern Development, Mines and Forestry Michael Gravelle said the acceptance of the wood allocation is great news for the region, creating jobs and just what his government had hoped to see out of the wood supply process.
“We have a wood supply that will provide them the fibre they will need to move forward, and also the help in terms of building the plant itself,” Gravelle said, adding the spin-off economics will benefit communities like Greenstone and even Thunder Bay.
Also announced Tuesday was the South Wabi Sawmill’s acceptance of 3,600 cubic metres of red and white pine, which will create three new jobs at the family-run operation, located near Haileybury.
The company produces logs for use in log homes, saunas, fences, decks and other applications.
“We are proud of our commitment to building in the North, for the North,” said owner Fred Mackewn.”
The Liberal government has handed out 19 allocations totaling 1.2 million cubic metres of wood annually. They’ve been handing them out piecemeal throughout 2011 in advance of October’s provincial election.
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