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DENINU KUE'/FORT RESOLUTION
A project to upgrade the rough, narrow road around Fort Resolution's Mission Island is about to begin.

Chief Louis Balsillie of Deninu Ku'e First Nation in Fort Resolution stands on a section of the Mission Island road, which is about to be upgraded. - Paul Bickford/NNSL photo

The heavy equipment training project is being presented by Aurora College, and supported by Deninu Ku'e First Nation (DKFN) and the Fort Resolution Metis Council.

DKFN Chief Louis Balsillie said two members of the band and two Metis residents of the community will train on four pieces of heavy equipment which will prepare them for possible employment with mining projects in the NWT.

Balsillie said the project should have happened two years ago, but ran into opposition from the Fort Resolution Seniors' Society.

"So what I did was I went around with a petition and got 238 names, and we explained to them all what was going to be done," he said, noting he then sent the petition to the college. "They accepted that as the people have spoken for Fort Res, not five or six people, or 10 people."

Balsillie said the seniors' society is still against the project, noting the group remains concerned graves on the island may be disturbed.

Mission Island contains an estimated 20 graves in the area of a large cross.

"We're just talking about upgrading the road," Balsillie said. "The road is already there. So what we want to do is upgrade it so people can drive right around the island with their cars."

In June, Terri Villeneuve, the president of the seniors' society, called Mission Island a "sacred and historic site."

Villeneuve was out of Fort Resolution last week and declined to comment on the latest developments in the road improvement project.

In early October, three weeks of classroom study began for the four participants under the guidance of a college instructor from Fort Smith. Afterwards, they will begin the actual work on the estimated five kilometres of road around the island.

The road project has $148,000 in funding, including training allowances for the participants.

Currently, a narrow, unpaved road runs along one side of Mission Island to a site of an old mission marked by the large cross. A much rougher road continues all the way around the island.

Although still called an island, a channel which once separated Mission Island from the mainland has been filled in for many years.

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