Terry Halifax
Northern News Services
Fort Resolution (Mar 26/01) - It's been a wide-stride to put a foot in both worlds for Fort Resolution, says Chief Don Balsillie.
But there is a solid future for the historic community in tourism, a new sawmill and a proposal for a $150,000 breakwater project, that will keep the silt out of the harbour.
"We have been getting more and more fisherman and boaters through the community in the last couple years, so if we work on the breakwater and make it accessible, that would be a plus," Balsillie said.
Fort Resolution is the oldest community in the NWT. In 1786, Cuthbert Grant built a trading post near the mouth of the Slave River and it soon became the gateway to the North.
Fort Resolution flourished at the turn of the century. It was the corner store of the North, where boats refueled, dogs were rested, bought and sold and empty stomachs were filled.
"It was the gateway to the North," Beaulieu said. "Everybody going down the Mackenzie would stop here -- there was no Yellowknife then."
The Deninu Ku'e Development Corp. will help return the community to economic prominence, said Balsillie.
The company has contracts to clear right-of-way along Highway 7. As well, they have started a milling operation to saw rough timbers.
Balsillie and the other Treaty 8 chiefs have established the Akaitcho Corporation for investment and business opportunity. The Akaitcho chiefs see the resource as rich as what lies beneath the Mackenzie Delta.
Developing options
"We'll be looking at developing an options paper with the government of the Northwest Territories and the aboriginal groups of the South Slave," he said. "The potential to increase the output is quite dramatic."
The commercial bison herd was recently sold off to a southern buyer, but the Bison recovery project still has about 80 head. Balsillie said the commercial herd was just too expensive to operate.
"We just couldn't sustain them with the market down and the cost of feed, transportation and wages, it just wasn't economical," he said.
The recovery project takes bison infected with tuberculosis and brucelosis and treats and studies the bison.
"It's world-renowned for it's success," Balsillie said. "To date, we have offspring from the original calves that are disease-free."
He said they have a plan to build a long-term facility to sustain 500 animals.
"If you take a healthy animal and put it into a infected environment, then you're back to square one," he said.
New face at school
A $2.6 million renovation is moving along right on schedule at Deninoo school, says principal Bill Hurley.
The new school will give the kids and teachers some new space, that is also their own space.
"The high school will have their own section and the elementary will have their own section," Hurley said.
Deninoo school currently has 44 high school students and 90 elementary students.
A new audio visual room will house all digital cameras, scanners, and video equipment. The office greets students, staff and visitors to the school with a semi-circular reception area. The principal's office is fitted with three windows big corner windows can keep an eye on things.
The new renovation will allow multi-purpose room where teachers can use as a resource room and also for special needs students who require more one-on-one time. A central science and arts room will be shared by high school and elementary students.
Another feature of the new school will be a cultural room, which is a five-sided room to be used for special events and the home room for Dorothy Beaulieu, the Chipewyan language teacher.
The renovation has been quite a disruption,Hurley said. Students are eager to settle in the new digs. Completion is scheduled for Aug. 14.
