In the context of the housing crisis affecting many Indigenous communities, a company owned by the Cree First Nation of Waswanipi, in Nord-du-Québec, wants to produce its own lumber to accelerate the construction of homes on its territory. .
The Mishtuk Corporation, owned by the Cree First Nation of Waswanipi, announced on Thursday the creation of the Bois d’oeuvre Cri sawmill, in collaboration with the local company Chantiers Chibougamau, as well as the federal and provincial governments.
The project is a way to give hope to the young people of the Cree First Nation of Waswanipi, said Paul Gull, chairman of the board of directors of Bois d’oeuvre Cri, during a press conference at the facilities of the sawmill. This community of 1,400 people is located nearly 140 kilometers from Chibougamau.
“We have to give something back to young people. We’re not all going to be hunters or fishers. We can’t go back in time, but we can have something that will support our community. »
housing crisis
Bois d’oeuvre Cri is launched in the context of a housing crisis in Aboriginal communities. At maximum capacity, the plant’s production would supply the wood needed to build 2,000 houses a year.
The nine Cree communities of Eeyou Istchee, of which Waswanipi is a part, estimate that it will be necessary to build 5,250 new single-family homes on its territory over the next 15 years.
The Cree are not the only people to suffer the consequences of the housing shortage.
The challenges of building in the remote regions of Nord-du-Québec are numerous, explained Mandy Gull-Masty, Grand Chief of the Grand Council of the Crees of Quebec, in an interview on the sidelines of the announcement. “There are a lot of brakes, it’s not just one thing. »
“At first, we didn’t have the funding for projects like that. The cost of construction in the North is very high, almost double. There was also a lack of manpower. »
About 18% of the 667,000 Indigenous households counted in Canada in 2022 are in housing need, according to a report from the office of the Parliamentary Budget Officer (PBO). This proportion reaches 12% in Quebec.
The lack of housing, which forces families to live together in the same residence, has consequences for public health.
In a report published last October, coroner Geneviève Thériault linked the deaths of 10 infants in Inuit communities in Nunavik to the lack of safe social housing. In all 10 cases, overcrowding in housing was a recurring risk factor, she pointed out.
A relationship for the energy transition
Now that he has inherited the energy portfolio, Pierre Fitzgibbon, Minister of Economy, Innovation and Energy, says he is “very sensitive” to relations with the Aboriginal nations, while several representatives of the First Nations spoke during the election campaign to denounce the Legault government’s lack of understanding of the issues affecting their communities.
Mr. Fitzgibbon did not know Ms. Gull-Masty before meeting her at the swearing-in of ministers of the Legault government last October. Since then, the Minister has had meetings to discuss several files.
“We spoke for an hour and a half together to talk about other projects in the region that will be important for the economic development of Quebec,” he said during a press scrum on the sidelines of the announcement.
“We looked at the natural resource projects that can be integrated into our battery strategy,” he said. We are talking about critical minerals. We talked about how renewable energy will help decarbonize Quebec. »