(Waswanipi) Chantiers Chibougamau, in collaboration with the Cree Nation of Waswanipi and its forestry branch Corporation Mishtuk, are modernizing the Bois d’oeuvre cri sawmill, located about twenty kilometers from the Aboriginal village.
Cree lumber is 51% owned by Mishtuk and 49% by Chantiers Chibougamau, a partnership that took four years of negotiations to become a reality.
The lumber will be used to build much-needed homes for the Cree nations and to power the factories of 2e and 3e transformation of Chantiers Chibougamau.
Due to population growth, the Crees will need 5,200 housing units over the next 15 years.
“Initially, 10% of the lumber will be reserved for the needs of the Cree community,” said Chris Cooper, project manager for Cree Lumber.
For the manufacturer Chantiers Chibougamau, the sawmill has the advantage of being close to forest resources and where there is available labour.
According to Frédéric Verreault, executive director of corporate development at Chantiers Chibougamau, the sawmill is the only manufacturing company on Cree territory.
The sawmill, largely automated, has a capacity of 70,000 cubic meters per year with the possibility of increasing it to 120,000 cubic meters over time. The wood allocations reserved for the Crees resulting from the Peace of Braves could be used to support the activities of the plant.
Thirty workers spread over three shifts will find work at the mill. In addition to the 30 jobs in the factory, the Mill contributes to sustaining a hundred jobs in the forest at Mishtuk. The works and state-of-the-art equipment required an investment of 20 million. The start of production is scheduled for the first quarter of 2023.
The Waswanipi sawmill is becoming one of the most modern in Quebec, support its co-owners.
The plant was inaugurated Thursday in the presence of Grand Chief of the Grand Council of the Crees of Quebec Mandy Gull-Masty and Quebec ministers Pierre Fitzgibbon and Ian Lafrenière. For the occasion, the dignitaries cut a spruce tree rather than the traditional ribbon.
This is a reopening, since the mill had been in operation until 2012. It was operated for years by Domtar.
“Today’s announcement is a significant first step in the place the Crees want to occupy in the development of their territory,” said Grand Chief of the Grand Council of the Crees of Quebec Mandy Gull-Masty.
The $20 million investment is broken down as follows: Chantiers Chibougamau, the Waswanipi Nation and the Cree Nation provide a little over a third of the money. Investissement Québec (loan of 7 million), Economic Development Canada (2.4 million), Natural Resources Canada, Cree Nation Government and the Société de développement de la Baie-James (loan of 1.3 million) contributed to the ‘investment.
The travel costs of The Press were assumed by Chantier Chibougameau.