SHESHEGWANING—There has certainly been a lot of construction taking place in the Sheshegwaning First Nation over the past year or so, with three major developments taking place, the start up of construction of the new elementary school, the near completion of the Leadership Centre, and the construction of a satellite office of the UCCM Anishinabek Tribal Police office.
“Construction on the new school is in the early stages,” stated Joan Sheppard, executive director of Sheshegwaning, last week. “The ICF blocks and the foundation are in now, and work is carrying on.”
“The work on the new school is excellent news for staff and students at the school, and the community,” said Ms. Sheppard.
The construction work is being carried out by Prosperi Construction, based out of Sudbury.
“The new school will house students and staff and include grades Kindergarten to Grade 8 as is the case at St. Joseph’s Anishinabek School currently but will be a much larger building (18,403 square foot). The current school building is really exceeding its capacity,” explained Ms. Sheppard. Suggestions for the name of the new school are still on the table, although nothing has been finalized.
The land the new school is going to be located on, was cleared the site this past spring, said Ms. Sheppard. The project is being funded through Indigenous Services Canada.
“This is a very exciting project,” said Ms. Sheppard. She pointed out the anticipated completion date for construction is December 2026.
Work and construction on the new leadership centre has been ongoing for a couple of years. “This project has been in progress for a while now,” said Ms. Sheppard. “It is geared toward economic development, with offices for our economic development office staff, Odawa Stone (Quarry) will have an office, and their will be space for the community cultural coordinator. One of the new features will be a healing lodge, which will be very nice for the community, and be available for all community members to use.”
There will also be a large foyer, open space when visitors come into the building, historical information and artifacts on Sheshegwaning, and space for an artisans display area and for special events.” The leadership centre is attached to the band office and Prosperi is doing the construction.
The majority of the funding for this project has been provided by the Northern Ontario Heritage Fund Corporation and FedNor.
“This project is very closer to completion, the interior work has basically been completed, with a couple of exterior parts of the project to be finalized,” said Ms. Sheppard. She said the grand opening of the new leadership centre is expected to take place this fall.
As has been reported previously a new UCCM Anishinabek Police satellite office is being constructed in the community and will be completed in the fall.
