Batchewana First Nation gets $320,000 for first phase of clean water access project

Batchewana First Nation is receiving $320,000 from the federal government for the design phase of its clean water access projects in Goulais Mission and Obadjiwan.

Sault Ste. Marie MP Terry Sheehan was joined by Batchewana First Nation (BFN) Chief Dean Sayers and councillor Harvey Bell at the First Nation’s council chambers Tuesday to make the announcement.

“The First Nation has had a really murky, cloudy - not the most comfortable relationship - with our abilities to just have the greatest relationship with the settler government over the years, and it’s really a moment of pride today that we’re celebrating with regards to the water systems in our Goulais Mission community, and our Obadjiwan community,” Sayers told reporters on hand for the announcement. “We’ve been working at this for a long time, a lot of years, and this glass water is a symbol of where we’re going.”

“It won’t be very long where we’re going to be able to have people turn on their taps in those two villages and be able to consume the water, without having to worry about uranium, or all kinds of other ingredients in their water that really, we don’t want to embrace.”

The projects will eventually see a water treatment plant being built in Goulais Mission, and decentralized water systems - which would clean and filter water at the point of entry for each residence - in Obadjiwan.

It’s a move that will provide clean drinking water for approximately 200 people residing in those communities, following a history of issues surrounding the presence of uranium in the water in both Goulais Mission and Obadjiwan spanning nearly two decades. 

“Well, it’s absolutely critical,” Sheehan told reporters following the announcement. “Batchewana has been working very hard on rectifying a situation that’s unacceptable.”

“Everyone deserves equal access to clean, good drinking water.”

Sayers says that while the water in both communities north of Sault Ste. Marie was deemed safe enough to bathe in, residents of those communities were advised not to drink the uranium-laced water.

“We’re not sure of the long-term effects,” Sayers said. “We do know that there was cautions taken by our leadership - the council - and we encouraged our people to not use the water for drinking.”

“So we incurred probably upwards [of] around three-quarters-of-a-million dollars in cost of providing water for people in their houses,” he continued. “It’s really a difficult task to expect people to bathe their kids in bottled water.”

Sayers anticipates a funding announcement for the construction project to be announced sometime near the end of June.

"We know that Canada's going into election mode in June - the writ will drop - and after that, it's going to be hard to see major expenditures by the federal government," he said. "So our processes need to be rolled up by the end of April." 

That construction project will probably cost anywhere from $6 million to $7 million to complete, Sayers told reporters. 

It's hoped that both communities will be able to house more band members - and subsequently pursue economic development opportunities down the road - as a result of having clean, drinkable water. 

"We see economic development as being a big part of [that] in all of these villages," he said. "We have beautiful lakefront villages that don't have the economic development that we need to see - and water is a big issue."

"Water's holding us back." 

Leadership for BFN selected ARCADIS Canada Inc. as the design consultant for the water projects in mid-December.