Waskaganish Crees build for the millennium

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The Crees of Waskaganish First Nation, a 785 square kilometre Quebec reserve, may have the busiest capital works department in the James Bay region. And if two heads are better than one, then maybe it is a case of many astute planners and builders putting their heads together that has caused multiple projects in a dreamed-about expansion to become reality this spring. They have brought to life the vision of the 1,600-member community that held workshops, exhibits and presentations over a couple of years to come up with a plan for needed services.

Three of the band's capital works projects - a building for community programs and recreation called the Gathering Place, a daycare centre, and a large clinic and residences for professional medical staff and visitors - were completed in February to March. Only some minor interior work, masonry and landscaping remain to be done.

According to Co-ordinator of Community Planning George Diamond, the new buildings are figurative and actual landmarks denoting partial implementation of their 10-year master plan. That plan, sealed last November, is itself the culmination of two years of collaborative effort on the part of the First Nation's members. The ideas for expansion, though, sprung from needs that were identified at least a decade ago.

The grand opening for the clinic and daycare is tentatively scheduled for July 20, when the exterior is completed, Director of Operations Susan Esau says. The official opening of the Gathering Place was February 25.

The Gathering Place

The Gathering Place is the hub of the community and was planned first. It's a multi-purpose building that serves all ages and houses numerous competitive and recreational activities. It includes full kitchen facilities and an auditorium. It was built in 1996, but funding problems delayed completion until this year. There's a gym, fitness centre (including cardio machine), Elders' centre, a video production office for Vision Quest Productions, and the band's weekly newspaper, The Portage.

Charles Hester, the band's Youth Development Co-ordinator since 1993, says "There used to be a complaint in the community of nothing to do, but you hardly ever hear that now." As an example, he says the fitness centre has 107 members already, about 30 of whom use it daily.

Hester estimates that 300 to 400 young people attend various programs each week, with the 10-to-14-year-olds using the Gathering Place most. Sports are ever popular. As well, 60 young people use the pool hall at night, more on weekends, he says. Hester adds there is a curfew for under-16s and a protocol worked out with the school across the street to ensure there are no problems.

Other activities include Vision Quest, a youth video club established in 1994. The youth learn to produce a weekly show known as "What's Up Waskaganish," which has employed 40 people since its inception. The program inspired one student to obtain a two-year TV broadcasting diploma, and now he's a resource person for the others.

"The same thing is happening for the other project - The Portage - Hester says. Six students are involved in learning some foundations of print media production, which could be a springboard to formal training.

Hester says they're now looking at adding activities for the younger age groups and getting the Elders' program up and running. Waskaganish has 85 Elders who are over 60 years. The Gathering Place is meant to enhance interaction between Elders and young people, and enable more sharing of cultural activities.

Card games and board games are popular in all age groups and Hester says they want to start new programs this year that may include drama and martial arts.

The clinic

While completion of the Gathering Place was on hold, the community started to plan its 14,500 square foot clinic and its daycare centre, George Diamond said. The clinic project included five duplexes and a triplex to house staff who are hired from outside the community. Total cost or the clinic and housing units was $5.5 million.

The clinic contract was awarded to Alta Limitee of Montreal. Noosekan Inc., a joint venture company consisting of Waskaganish First Nation and Alta Limitee, shared responsibility overall, Diamond said.

Michel Lafleur, general contractor for the project, says work on the clinic began in June 1998 and was speedily completed using 70 per cent local workers. He said he was able to employ more workers from the community on this project than on any previous project. "We had a very good relationship with the band and the people over there," he said. Emmanuel Lebrasseur was superintendent of all three projects, Lafleur said. Project manager for the daycare centre and the Gathering Place was Michel Lalonde, an engineer with Roy Lumby Co.

Diamond's main role was to assign a construction site and to work on the preliminary construction plans for the clinic with architect Jacques St. Denis of the firm M.L.S. and Associes which worked on the Gathering Place too. Mechanical engineers were P. Ryan & Assoc. Inc.

Clinic facilities include outpatient services, social and youth protection services, NAADAP, dental care and CHR programs. Permanent staff includes two doctors and four full-time nurses, and one replacement nurse to cover holidays, as well as a dentist and dental assistant. There are also a physiotherapist, a Cree translator, a CHR and three support staff.

"Now we have space needed for personnel," Susan Esau said. "The residences for nurses and doctors is something we lacked for years. We couldn't get people to stay long enough to get to know the community."

Esau adds that Waskaganish was spared when a recent nursing strike was threatened in the Cree communities of the James Bay region. She thinks the new facilities may have helped avert problems.

"When it came time for the nurses to be deciding who was going to join the walkout, our nurses decided to stay on the job. They said, 'Well, we have what we need'."

The clinic shuld meet their needs for years, Esau said, since emergency cases are referred to Val d'or or Chisasibi. In her view, the only thing lacking is a birthing centre. Women still have to fly out two weeks to a month before their delivery date.

Carolyn Rosa, the head nurse, has worked for Waskaganish for 10 years. She says a major difference since the larger clinic opened its doors March 8 is that staff "are walking a lot more." She adds, "You can lose a patient just by walking fast."

Rosa notes some advantages to working in a place like Waskaganish, compared to a hospital, are that there is no shift work and it doesn't take years to get a promotion. She adds that the isolation is not for everyone, but to her "it's just adventure."

Diamond named James Bobish, general manager of the Cree Health Board, as a key player in getting the clinic and residences for the community. Bobish could not be reached for comment.

Daycare

The handicapped-accessible daycare building will accommodate 80 children up to six years old, and has at least 30 already enrolled, Co-ordinator of Daycare William Hester says.

"We're already looking now at special needs children and we want to integrate a Head Start program," he said. Future plans may also include a well baby clinic, he added.

In addition to the ECE workers, Hester says they have hired, with the aid of the Cree Regional Authority, two managers - one for finance, one for human resources. They've employed a cook, a nutritionist, and they are looking at setting up committees to involve parents. The CRA has provided a social worker, Lucy Bergeron, who set up the Chisasibi daycare, Hester says, and who, along with the board members, has contributed invaluable help, he concluded.

Operations director Esau agrees with Hester that expansion of the daycare will be necessary. Three quarters of Waskaganish's population is under 30 and the population will at least double in the next 10 years. They have to wait on funding to open up more spaces, but tey could probably enroll 60 children now, she said.

Esau explains they've needed a daycare for at least 13 years.

"More women are going into the workforce. There are more job openings for women and we felt that a lot of women would further their education too if they had child care." The daycare cost $1.1 million.

She says eight early childhood education workers were trained locally in advance of the building's completion. They graduated from a culturally balanced childcare program held a couple of years ago for Cree communities of the region and paid for by their regional Cree school board and Human Resources Development Canada. The band wants to see the program run again, this time focused on the administrative level. Linda Georgekish, one of their ECE graduates, has some administrative background and will be running the daycare. The band plans to offer her advanced training, Esau said.

Waskaganish is only accessible by air in the summer.

"If we have to bring in building material, we have to bring it in by barge from Moosonee or from up North," Esau says. Everything is so expensive, the cost of living is so high - I don't see anything is going to change until we get a road."

She adds road access has been under discussion for a year. The band has to deal with two levels of government.

"The agreement was signed, but we are just waiting for our permits to begin construction - the environmental studies that they have to do took a long time."

Diamond says of the new facilities: "They're very, very nice to have. Most of the programs that they're running are picking up and they seem to be quite successful."