Peigans generate revenue from wind energy

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By the end of September, the largest wind turbine in the province will be operating on the Peigan Nation.

Weather Dancer I is the first phase of a possible 100 megawatt wind farm joint venture between the Peigan Indian Utilities Corporation and EPCOR. The 900 kilowatt NEG Micon turbine from Denmark will be Alberta's tallest, standing 72 metres high with a blade radius of 52 metres.

Weather Dancer I is the culmination of an almost two-year-old partnership between the two companies that has changed in scope from what was originally planned.

"We did go after financing ourselves," said William Big Bull, who heads the project for the Peigan corporation. "But more on the developmental and engineering side of things, those costs would have changed the project drastically."

Initially, EPCOR had entered into a 10-year agreement with PIUC for the company to deliver power by last November.

But when that timeline derailed, the two partners altered the agreement to allow for EPCOR to use its expertise to get the hardware and help erect the turbine.

"The purpose of working with EPCOR in this first stage was to work out all the particulars," said Big Bull, "to create a business case for a bigger project and an opportunity for them to invest in a bigger project."

"This is very much a long-term partnership," said David Morrow, vice president of the Power Development Corporation arm of EPCOR. "Each of the partners works together to make a better whole."

This joint venture has seen both companies share equally in the capital costs, which are set at $1.8 million, and both will share equally in the revenue from the sale of electricity. Eighty per cent of the electricity generated by Weather Dancer I will be sold to EPCOR with the remaining 20 per cent sold to the power pool.

Weather Dancer I is located on the eastern edge of the reserve on a ridge just south of an existing substation.

"It's the best potential for wind and developing a project of this size," said Big Bull. "It's community owned land."

A utilities permit has been issued, valid for the life of the project.

Beaver Lake Pilgrimage marks 50th anniversary

Gary Elaschuk, Sweetgrass Writer, Beaver Lake

August 18 and 19 marked the fiftieth anniversary of the Sacred Heart Catholic Church Pilgrimage at Beaver Lake Cree Nation, near Lac La Biche.

"We were supposed to celebrate 50 years this year," said Beaver Lake resident Rita Gladue, "but nothing special was made." Only half a dozen campers were scattered over the grounds this year, and the attendance of 100 to 150 was down significantly from previous years.

"We were disappointed," said Gladue, 59, who has helped organize the pilgrimage since it was revived six years ago. "Two years ago there were around 500 people" from Native communities all over northern Alberta.

Her sister Flora Whitford, 69, who lives on the Kikino Metis Settlement, has also helped organize the pilgrimage the past six years. She said she has been going to the Beaver Lake pilgrimage since she was "just a kid." Their father, Pierre Gladue, helped build the fourteen stone monuments that mark the way of the cross on the church grounds.

Gladue said she remembers the men at Beaver Lake gathering stones "from all over the reserve" to build the stations of the cross 50 years ago. "One person would build them," she said, "and put their name on the one they built." Only one name has survived the weathering over time, she added: "M. Richard, and I don't know who that was."

Whitford said she did not care to speculate about why there were far fewer people at this year's pilgrimage, but she noted that "people don't go to church that much, especially young people." She noted that attendance had also dropped at the Kehewin pilgrimage this year. "Old-timers used to go to church lots," she said. "Everyone used to go to church, and to the pilgrimages. Now the young people would rather go to ball games or rodeos."

"In the old days there were tents set up everywere," Gladue said. "Everyone from the reserve set up there; people came from all over the north. When they started the pilgrimage it was with teams of horses. People would set up camp a week ahead of time."

Attendance dropped when camping was banned on the church grounds, she said, and then the event was cancelled for a 10-year period. When it was revived, it was because people at Beaver Lake "didn't want to let it go."

Ninety-year-old Beaver Lake Elder Leo Mountain, who has attended the pilgrimage for "40 years or more," said "the camp ground used to be full in the old days - it's starting to come back."

"There are not many believers anymore," he said. "The young people have lost their way; they don't believe in anything they can't touch or see."

Gladue felt attendance was down this year because the word did not get out to other Native communities. Although she regularly travels to the big pilgrimage at Lac St. Anne, Gladue feels the smaller pilgrimages keep closer to the original intent of renewing and celebrating faith. At Lac St. Anne "there is so much other stuff going on it's not religion anymore," she said. "There's gambling, people selling a small bannock bun for a dollar. You're not supposed to go there to make money. It's a holy thing you're supposed to follow - to pray."

The Sunday mass was dedicated in memory of Archie Gladue, a Beaver Lake businessman and philanthropist who died in a traffic accident last December at age 61. A hawthorn tree was planted in his memory.