Empowering remote communities.

• Author: Larmour, Adelle
• Position: SPECIAL REPORT: TIMMINS

What began as a vision has now become a reality for three communities along the James Bay Coast.

Five Nations Energy Inc. (FNEI), a federally incorporated non-profit corporation, is the only Aboriginal-owned licensed regulated transmission company of the four that exist in Ontario. It is celebrating five years of its transmission lines in operation, providing reliable electricity from Moosonee to Fort Albany, Kashechewan, and Attawapiskat in the Far North.

Company president Mike Metatawabin recalled the idea as "far-fetched" when he first heard Chief Ignace Gull make the motion to carry out a project that would bring 115 kilovolt (kV) transmissions lines through 270 kilometres of muskeg.

"I never imagined the magnitude of the project until I began to witness it as it progressed when it was being constructed," says Metatawabin, who was chief of Fort Albany at the time.

Prior to the communities' connection to the provincial grid, they relied on diesel-generated power, described as unreliable, inefficient and at its maximum capacity. Now, they are reaping the benefits of cleaner air, economic development such as new residential subdivisions, schools and recreational facilities, as well as improved quality of life with a reliable supply of running water and heat source.

Project co-ordinator Ed Chilton says the proponents of the project were the chiefs of the communities, who were also the members on the board of directors. In 1997, FNEI became incorporated.

"It seemed the only way to allow the communities to grow and have sufficient electricity was to get off diesel where we weren't tied into the budgets of governments," Chilton says. "We did an energy study, and it showed the best way was to be connected to the transmission grid."

The project was also expected to save the federal and provincial governments a minimum of $150 to $200 million over an accounting life, according to a 2001 press release.

After convincing the government the merits of the project, financing became the greatest challenge. Applying for a loan as a new transmission company while the provincial government was restructuring Ontario Hydro increased those challenges. However, in the end, the federal government funded a portion of the project through Indian and Northern Affairs Canada, and the remainder of the financing was done through the Bank of Montreal, Pacific Western Capital and the Northern Ontario Heritage Fund Corporation. Chilton says they also sold some of their...