Multi-faceted economic development projects in Biinjitiwaabik Zaaging Anishinaabek
By Rick Garrick
ROCKY BAY—Biinjitiwaabik Zaaging Anishinaabek (BZA) is developing two run-of-river hydro projects on the Namewaminikan River in partnership with AXOR Group and two other Lake Nipigon First Nation communities.
“It’s getting close,” says Ray Nobis, BZA’s economic development officer. “Maybe by next year we should be in operation.”
The 4.4 MW Twin Falls and 5.6 MW Long Rapids hydro-electric generation stations are located about 38 kilometres north of the community. The AXOR Group specializes in the generation of renewable energy and currently owns and operates similar waterpower stations across Canada. AXOR is also in the process of developing more than 800 MW of “green energy” across the world.
BZA is also involved in commercial fishing, forest harvesting and the construction business. Although the community currently has two commercial fishers who fish with boats from May to November, more commercial fishers fish through the ice during the winter.
“The price of fish is better in the winter,” Nobis says. “That’s why more people do it in the winter.”
Nobis says the community of about 340 on-reserve band members has its own forest licence permit and has “laid out a partnership with Taranis [Contracting Group] for our construction.”
“We do harvest lumber every year,” Nobis says. “Silviculture, we do that every year.”
BZA also has an outpost tourist camp business located across the bay from the community’s Pow Wow grounds.
“We’ve got a bull tag and two cow tags that we sell every year,” Nobis says. “One of the things we are evolving is eco-tourism, regular tourism, and hunting tourism. Those things are all being developed and people are looking at entrepreneurship in terms of some of those businesses.”
Nobis says the community is currently in the planning stage of developing a business centre next to the community-owned gas station, which is located just off of Highway 11.
“We’re looking at design plans,” Nobis says. “We just want to develop a business centre up there to house a lot of our existing businesses that are [located in the] band office. It should have a restaurant and it should have a laundromat.”
Nobis says the community developed a five-year economic development strategy with four priorities in 2013.
“The first priority was our business centre feasibility study, which is done,” Nobis says. “The next thing was our tourism. The third project we had was our docks and breakwater, which we are doing right now. And the fourth one was our waterfront development, so it’s all tourism based.”
Nobis says some of the ideas for the waterfront development include a chip shack with a playground and a boat launch.
“I don’t know what’s going to come out of there yet, it might be a bread and breakfast,” Nobis says.
Nobis says the community also does training every year for community members.
The community is also working on the drafting of a final agreement with Canada and Ontario to expand it’s reserve lands through the Land and Larger Land Base process. If the agreement is ratified and signed, Ontario will transfer 681.158 hectares of Crown land adjacent to the BZA reserve to Canada to be added to the reserve. An additional 4.458 hectares of Crown land, comprised of lots and roads, in the village of Macdiarmid, located next to BZA, will also be transferred to Canada by Ontario to be added to the reserve. In addition, 7.179 hectares of land in the village of Macdiarmid that are owned by the First Nation will be transferred by the First Nation to Canada to be added to the reserve.
“We are in the final stages of our referendum,” Nobis says about the Land and Larger Land Base process. “People are okay with the land and the process, now that it is understood.”