New industry introduced at Cold Lake

Page 5

LEGOFF - A dynamic plan to end the long-standing housing and employment problems at the Cold Lake First Nations reserve has resulted in the band taking the first steps towards establishing First Nations Forest Products, a wood-processing facility that will process raw lumber down to finished form.

The on-reserve lumber business has the potential of supplying all the existing and future housing needs plus could employ virtually all unemployed residents. It could establish a sound economic base and be a catalyst for individuals to develop spin-off cottage industries.

Thus far, says Chief Frances Scanie, the band has borrowed and invested $100,00 into purchasing equipment that will form the backbone for the business. That money purchased a shingle mill, post peeler and sawmill and will pay for a planer and dry kilns for drying the lumber. When the mill is fully operational it will produce dimensional lumber for the building trades, aspen and pine shingles, logs for log housing, spindles, flooring, tongue-and-groove panelling, aspen furniture blanks for custom made furniture, material for wood-frame furniture such as couches, chairs and tables and will do custom milling on demand. The mill will also provide tamarac posts for fencing.

The bulk of the equipment will be operated manually using the local employable work force to the maximum. "Instead of hiring one person to program a high-tech computer, we'll have twenty people operating the machines," explains administrative consultant Mitch Kilgour. "This seems to be a trend in wood-processing in both Canada and Scandinavian countries except in high-speed production."

Both skilled and unskilled men and women will be able to work in some division of the mill. The large-scale operation will require head and tail sawyers, millwrights, lumber grades, supervisors, equipment operators, edgers, planers, saw filers and kiln operators. Staff will be needed also in administration as secretaries, receptionists, bookkeepers, janitors, building maintenance workers, security, sales and order processors. The outside supply operations will see a need for tree-fellers, skidders, truckers, and cherry-pickers, plus those used for scarification purposes.

While there are some of the necessary skilled tradespeople available on the reserve, there will be an on-going training program to fill the manpower needs. An Opportunity Corps similar to one offered by Lakeland College in Ardmore, south of the reserve, will be formed. The training will be a first step to enable those who have been typically poor candidates for the job market to come into the active work force.

There will be apprenticeship programs offered, but some of the technical training is only available in B.C. In that case, candidates selected will be sent to Surrey or Abbotsford, B.C. to shops willing to train technicians. Upon their return, the trainees will work in the mill for hands-on experience before commencing full time, permanent employment.

In the primary stages of operations, the band will not have the manpower available to fill its staff needs so will bring in outside qualified personnel, but the commitment to provide employment to reserve residents will be maintained as much as feasible.

At this point a portable sawmill is being set up for primary production that will be in operation in about a week. Meanwhile a minor salvage logging operation is being undertaken in an area by the Esso Resources (Canada) Ltd. site that has already been logged out. This work employs between five to eight loggers who are also doing scarification. Ideally, the band hopes to contract the logging to several people to supply timber for the mill. The group now at work between Esso's May and Leming plants has the able assistance of Woodlands Manger Vane Strebsky, an engineer with an extensive background in bush operations and management.

A meeting is scheduled with the Alberta Forest Serve to petition for another timber berth. The ban has one berth of 312 hectares and is looking at the one adjacent to it of 35 hectares that also has a good stand of birch on it. They have the equipment for post and rail production and will negotiate to be the suppliers of tamarac for posts.

The mill will be run on electrical energy and Kilgour says that cost is a handicap. "If we had the money to install the electrical (equipment) we would have started operating already," says. He was optimistic about establishing operations "as soon as possible after installation of the power source." A plus in their favor is the natural gas wells that last year provided gas heating to all reserve homes. That resource will fire the dry kilns and the reserve won't have to spend large sums bringing it in from outside.

Construction of three main buildings to house the mill, administration, maintenance and dry kilns will be contracted with the stipulation that the majority of unskilled labor be hired locally. The main building will be 12,000 square feet and its operation will produce 5.2 million board feet per year.

Kilgour points out the spin-off industries will be considerable and the chances of success in the projects are extremely good. He says their studies showed that 97% of all hardwood utilized in manufacturing furniture is imported from either out of the province or out of the country. There's a minimal amount of aspen consumption now, but a great amount of resource. What little is used goes to pulpmill and chipboard plants. There is virtually no large-scale mills in either Alberta or B.C. using aspen.

A particular product produced will be aspen shingles as an alternative to high-priced cedar and asphalt, which has a short life span. The band has secured CMHC approval for use of their aspen shingles in their house construction. The plan is to produce a high quality fire-retardant shingle for a reasonable price. To this end, provincial government assistance is being given for market development and research into the varing aspects of aspen utilization.

Kilgour, with experience in managing and operating a shingle mill and other lumber operations, has been hired to do the paperwork and handle the details of putting the project together. The band has also secured the services of Canadian Executive Services Organization (CESO) worker Doug Webster to assist in discovering potential funding sources. So far, preliminary discussions have been held with the federal Department of Regional Economic Expansion, the Canada/Alberta Northern Subsidiary Agreement, the Northern Alberta Development Program and the Indian Equity Foundation. The Department of Indian Affairs' Economic Development division has also been assisting by describing the proper methods of submitting funding applications to ensure success.

Chief Scanie is encouraged by the way the plan is developing. "Once we get everything going," he says, "it'll be good. This is turning out to be a big thing. It was planned to solve the housing and employment problems on our reserve and we're looking forward to it being on-stream with everyday working. We're also hoping to attract people back who left the reserve because we had noting to offer them."

Construction is due to begin in early 1987 and scheduled for completion by January, 1988.