Fort William celebrates 165th anniversary of Robinson Superior Treaty and newly reconstructed road

By Rick Garrick

Fort William hosted its first Family Street Festival on Sept. 7 to celebrate the newly reconstructed Mission Road and the 165th anniversary of the Robinson Superior Treaty.
“Today is a celebration on three different fronts,” says Chief Peter Collins. “We look at this as a family day, a day of celebration with our families, enjoying the day, enjoying the weather, enjoying the beautiful community we have. We get to enjoy it on the beautiful road that has been in the making for some time now.”
Mission Road was rebuilt this summer with a state-of-the-art storm water management system, concrete cubs, gutters, a pedestrian walkway and road resurfacing. The project was first looked at about four-to-five years ago.
“I would like to thank the City of Thunder Bay for their contribution,” Collins says. “The city is contributing almost a million dollars over a three-year time frame.”
Collins says the Mission Road project cost “just over $2 mil-lion,” with the community paying for its share through own-sourced revenues. Thunder Bay paid its share to honour the 1910 Access Agreement that provided the city with unrestricted access to the Loch Lomond Water Treatment Facility as long as it maintained the roadway infrastructure. Fort William has rebuilt most of its main roads over the past two years, including Mt. McKay Lookout Drive and Squaw Bay Road.
“(Our community members) love it,” Collins says. “And our visi-tors love it, but they’ve got to slow down. A couple of them have got speeding tickets.”
Mission Road resident Leo Bannon appreciates having the new road, noting that the drainage system worked well during a re-cent storm.
“It’s new, it’s nice to drive on and there’s no rough holes,” Bannon says. “They did a good job. It’s got the drainage, plus the curb stops and the sidewalk. It’s a lot better than we’re used to.”
Morgan Dunphy, another Mission Road resident, loves the new road.
“It was noisy for them to fix it, but it’s very quiet now,” Dunphy says. “It’s very smooth. Everyone is really happy, the sidewalk is the best bit. I like the new road.”
Dixie and Leo Desmoulin, who also reside on Mission Road, are happy with the new road.
“It’s nice and quiet — no dust,” Leo says. “I’ve done sewer and water for about 30 years and I did a little bit of work on this project. It’s alright. We’ll see how it holds up in the spring.”
Dixie stressed how well the workers from the community and Thunder Bay worked together on the Mission Road project.
“That’s what we need — to be one community instead of two or three different communities,” Dixie says. “Let’s just work as one whole big community.”
Fort William worked with engineering firm Oshhki-Aki LP — a partnership between Fort William and True Grit Consulting Ltd.; the City of Thunder Bay; and Nadin Contracting on the project.
“It was good to see that a lot of the work was labour sourced from here, from Fort William First Nation and locally,” says Thunder Bay Councillor Frank Pullia, acting mayor for September. “That is a true cooperation in making sure you build capacity internally and build even new, better opportunities moving forward in the spirit of friendship, respect and collaboration.”
Collins says the new road will provide better access to the community’s arena, bingo hall and Mt. McKay.
“I would also like to recognize today the celebration of the 165th anniversary of the signing of the (Robinson Superior) Treaty,” Collins says. “That treaty is about sharing the land and resources that we live in today.”
Collins plans to invite more guests and vendors to next year’s Family Street Festival.
“I have to thank the staff — I dream about things and they make it happen.”