BINGWI NEYAASHI – A federal investment will help a First Nation-owned sawmill expand in Bingwi Neyaashi Anishnabek.
Indigenous Services Minister Patty Hajdu, who also holds the FedNor portfolio, announced the federal agency will provide $1.7 million in funds to support Bingwi Neyaashi’s Papasay Value-Added Wood Products sawmill.
The First Nation, located around 60 kilometres north of Nipigon, launched the operation in 2017.
In a release, FedNor said the funds will support the expansion of existing buildings at the mill, new and expanded heat networks and sewer and water installations, the completion of a biomass boiler and processing centre, training, and new equipment including saws, a molder, and a kiln.
“[The Papasay Sawmill] is a critical economic anchor for our community, and it still has a lot of room for growth,” said Jordan Hatton, the First Nation’s director of economic development, in a statement. “FedNor’s support is helping us to ensure that the Papasay Sawmill can maximize its production, which will help our community meet its ambitious development goals moving forward.”
The expansion will also help develop four new partnerships with the Municipality of Greenstone, Animbiigoo Zaagi’igan Anishinaabek, Biinjitiwaabik Zaaging Anishinaabek, and Valard Construction, and support a continued partnership with Resolute Forest Products, which supplies much of its lumber.
The project will create three new jobs and maintain three existing positions, FedNor stated.
Hajdu called the project an economic win that will resonate beyond Bingwi Neyaashi Anishnabek.
“When First Nation-owned businesses grow and prosper, so does the entire Northern Ontario region,” said Hajdu in a statement. “This expansion will create new local jobs, help purchase new top-of-the-line equipment and improve safety operations.”
The project previously received just over $1 million in federal support in 2020 to transition from diesel to biomass