Council's Corner
PORTFOLIO UPDATE Submitted by Councilor, Sharon Ostberg
Good day Biigtigong Nishnaabeg, just a quick update on what is happening in my council portfolio responsibilities. As Chair of Biigtigong Dbenjgan, I thought I would give you a little history on what it is about and why we have it. Dbenjgan is an umbrella corporation that is owned by our First Nation. Dbenjgan’s mandate is to “generate revenue” and bring that revenue back to the community. We have six staff that look after the administration, such as payroll, inventory, contracts, and finances of the sub-corporations. Revenue is generated, through various sub corporations, these are: Biiwabakoke all things to do with mining, 24 Employees in the labor service agreement with Barminco. Also, under Biiwabakoke we have 72A peninsula, we are presently seeking funding to create an Industrial Laundry Facility mainly for miner cover-all’s, under Vincent Nabigon’s leadership we will continue to see success. Vincent also participated on the negotiations on the CBA with PGM and has done well. GMS Camps and Catering with 4 full time and 2 part time employees. (the buildings on the highway) We have 33% ownership. Presently we have a contract with Barrick until January for complete use of the buildings. Mkwa Contracting , within Mkwa, we have 72B Peninsula, a garage for maintaining our equipment. In construction, we have had a very busy summer and we are still expecting more opportunities to come. As previously mentioned Mkwa Contracting, has been growing, you have seen those big trucks hauling material to the school project, yes those belong to us. The clearing of housing lots, and demolition of older houses was performed by Mkwa. In partnership with LHNorth, Mkwa recently completed the Pic River Bridge restoration. This was a very profitable project which also resulted in a number of our members getting certification in necessary training to work big projects. In the upcoming spring and summer, we will be working with another partner to do the reclamation of the Heron Bay Dump, as well as our regular NFMC road maintenance and plowing, under Wayne Twance’s leadership along with his crew. He does a great job in seeking out opportunities keeping that company busy. In the Energy sector , I have been keeping busy trying to get better rates for our Twin Falls Plant under the new market renewal program. We were recently able to meet with the Minister of Energy and came away with an agreement to have separate negotiations as Indigenous owners of hydro generation stations for both of our plants. This has been a long two-year headache, and I think I am beginning to see light at the end of the tunnel. Other business development that the First Nation has been working on which will generate some revenue and expand our First Nation portfolio, is Giiwa on Court a building in Thunder Bay that will be renovated into affordable housing. This is in partnership with the FWFN, PRDC and Dbenjgan. We have an approved mortgage through CMHC, but there is still some equity to find. Biigtigong and FWFN have also entered another purchase of a building in Innova Park with a full tenant package.
If any community members have any questions or want an opportunity to discuss any of these ventures, please send me an email. sharon.ostberg@picriver.com
REMINDER Councilors, departments, program coordinators, and community members who have projects, upcoming events, stories and/or photos they would like to share in the next community newsletter can contact Cassandra Cress by emailing cassandra.cress@picriver.com. Submissions must be sent in one week prior to the issue release date, to ensure enough time for editing, formatting, and final review. All pieces will be sent back to review before going out to the public. Quarterly Issues Released: January, April, July & October 30th
3
October 2022
The Biigtigong Current
Made with FlippingBook - Share PDF online