Norway House Cree Nation has plans for prosperity
Chief Larson Anderson has at least four good reasons to do everything he can to make Norway House Cree Nation prosper.
“I have four daughters, they’re all under 30, and I want them to make Norway House their home,” Anderson says.
“We need to be able to create employment. We can’t continue to rely on government. At the same time, though, we need to create that wealth within the nation.”
He says a “good step forward” was taken in August 2022, when Manitoba Natural Resources and Northern Development Minister Greg Nesbitt visited Norway House to sign a memorandum of agreement (MOA) on forestry development that included economic-development initiatives and a historic revenue-sharing component.
The revenue sharing was later detailed in a September government press release announcing a memorandum of understanding (MOU) signed with Norway House Cree Nation and Chemawawin Cree Nation. The province will return 45 per cent of the timber dues (stumpage fees) it collects from tree harvesting done in proximity to the two communities during a two-year pilot project, retroactive to Jan. 1, 2022.
Nesbitt signed similar forestry revenue-sharing MOUs with Mosakahiken Cree Nation and Opaskwayak Cree Nation.
Anderson views the revenue sharing as a catalyst for future agreements.
“True reconciliation is putting everything on the table,” Anderson says. “We’ve let it be known to the province that we expect this to be carried out in other aspects and other resources that are extracted or used in our resource area.”
“Primarily, for example, Manitoba Hydro uses our lakes and waters for selling to the world with very little benefit to Norway House. We expect that to change.” The multi-pronged MOA provides employment opportunities for Norway House, one of the province’s largest First Nations located on the confluence of the Nelson River and Lake Winnipeg.
One of those opportunities is a tree-planting program for youth and other residents. “This is a job creator, and we have a high unemployment rate,” Anderson says of the community with about 6,000 full-time residents and up to 9,000 when off-reserve members are counted.
Norway House started a small sawmill in 2018, the same year Anderson became chief. A larger mill was added, as well as a specialized one that can cut siding. The sawmills employ six to 10 people and process enough wood to build 50 homes per year.
The MOA gave Norway House the rights to timber off reserve to build up to 500 houses.
“It gives us a lot more flexibility to continue our progress to try to solve our housing problem,” says Anderson, adding there are 1,200 homes in the Cree Nation. “We need 600 (more) houses, so obviously our federal government is not going to accommodate that.”
Nesbitt offered to fund a kiln for Norway House, while Canadian Kraft Paper Industries may provide training for more elaborate sawmill operations, Anderson added.
Norway House already constructs one-bedroom, post-and-beam “bachelor” houses with Styrofoam insulation. It also jointly owns a company near Winnipeg called Bison Modular Homes that builds homes from shipping containers and, more recently, from self-framing, structural insulated steel panels.
Residents will also learn how to gather viable pinecones and seeds, which will go to a nursery to grow seedlings the province orders for future planting.
“Long term, I’d love to have a nursery somewhere in northern Manitoba,” Anderson says. “We should take advantage of a possible employment opportunity.”
The MOA resolved a statement of claim Norway House filed last year against the Manitoba government over forestry practices in its resource management area. The province gave Norway House $160,000 to withdraw the claim after the MOA was signed.
One key part of the MOA addresses the lack of proper consultation when decisions were made about Norway House’s natural resources.
A five-member resource management board of community members and provincial government representatives will now collaborate and have facts from a community-led study of traditional land use.
The Manitoba government is initially contributing $190,000 for the new study, which will be done over a three- to five-year period, Anderson says. He expects the detailed study will cover water, vegetation, minerals, fish and wildlife in its resource management area that he compares to the size of Prince Edward Island.
“As most nations, if they know their resources and if they know what their potential GDP could be, then you have a stronger voice to negotiate for future projects, as well as potential funding for future activities,” Anderson says.
“We need to realize that the wealth that’s in our land doesn’t have to be ripped out of the ground and sold off when we know that we have high potential for successful business ventures on and off reserve.”
One example is nickel.
“From what I so far know, the nickel that’s been found in our resource area has the lowest acidity of any nickel,” Anderson says. “It also has huge potential to build electric cars or basically to build batteries.”
In announcing the MOA with Norway House, Nesbitt referred to the beginning of a “renewed” relationship.
“Our government understands that to advance reconciliation, we must take concrete steps to correct past wrongs,” the minister said. “This agreement is a first step in ensuring First Nations benefit economically from resource development on their ancestral lands and play an active role in resource management that benefits our province as a whole.”
