DENINU KU'E/FORT RESOLUTION
A new boardwalk in Fort Resolution that stretches from Mission Island to the southeastern shores of Great Slave Lake is creating jobs and enjoyment for the community.

Fort Resolution's new boardwalk will stretch from Mission Island to the community once completed. - photo courtesy of Facebook/Louis Balsillie

"Years ago our ancestors and our old people used to always walk to the island to do their prayers and to pick berries," said Fort Resolution Chief Louis Balsillie.

"Now we're going to cut the time down and go along our boardwalk."

Construction of the walkway began last fall and sprouted from a youth at risk program in the community that has employed eight young people between the ages of 18 and 30 to get the job done.

The young men involved spend their days cutting lumber at the community's portable mill, building frames and cutting the pieces of wood down to the right size before hauling them by boat to a work site.

"It's quite a job," Balsillie said.

One-quarter of the final boardwalk has been completed so far, which takes about 20 minutes to walk, he added.

Construction is expected to continue for two more years, as it can only be done over a period of a few months in autumn.

"We only can do the work in the fall because there's too much bugs, too many mosquitoes, too much water," Balsillie said.

"So we started it again this fall and continue until the snow is heavy and cold where we can't do anything with the ground anymore."

The goal is to create a place where people can go for healing and nature walks along the lakeshore.

Already people have been getting out to enjoy the scenery which includes all kinds of birds, eagles and swimming beavers if you're lucky, Balsillie said.

"People are just going out there more and more," he said. "I noticed even our people that left the community years ago, they come back and they can't wait to go out to the island and check out what we've done."

Not only has the project created employment opportunities that allow people to stay in their community, but it serves as a peaceful pathway to an area of the hamlet where people can go to heal.

The community is grieving a string of three suicides that occurred in the last four to five months and people are in need of help dealing with the situation, he said.

"These are young girls that moved away," Balsillie said. "The youth are suffering a lot with all the stuff that's been happening around them."

Going to Mission Island along the boardwalk is a place where people can go to help cope with it all.

"It's still continuing," he said of the ongoing construction. "We're about a quarter of the way to (For Resolution)."

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