It may have been too dangerous to visit the windfarm, because of a snow storm, but the celebration went on anyway.

It had been set for years – December 1st, 2016 was the day to commemorate all the work that went into making the Mesgi’g Ugju’s’n Wind Farm a reality. It is now running at full capacity.

It is projected to bring in $200 million over 20 years for the Mi’gmaq.

The day also marked Troy Jerome’s resignation from the Mesgi’g Ugju’s’n Wind Farm Board. He jokes that he’s going out on a high note, like George Costanza on Seinfeld.

“I put myself into that project – my life – for eight years,” he said. “It was part of my life – too much a part of my life, I would say maybe – and it was nice to be able to go to the Chiefs and say thank you, and release me.”

He officially stepped down as of 8 p.m on December 1st. In his mind, it was the appropriate time to do so. With the farm transitioning entirely into the day-to-day operations and management, his expertise are no longer needed.

“When you look back to what we set out to do in the early days, you look at our project plan … it’s kind of bizarre that what we set out to do is practically what happened,” he said. “It doesn’t happen too often.”

Jerome also stepped down as Executive Director of the Mi’gmawie Mawiomi Secretariat (MMS) in July. Like Jerome, the MMS – with the windfarm and agreements now in place – has little to do with the farm going forward. As the new Executive Director, Tanya Barnaby, describes it, the MMS is a political and administrative entity, taking direction from the Mi’gmawie Mawiomi. It’s goal was to generate own-source revenue for the Mi’gmaq, not necessarily be in the windfarm business.

“In that sense, it could have been a windfarm, it could have been a lollipop factory, it wouldn’t have mattered,” she said. “We needed to create revenue in our communities to begin to take over the management and governance of our territory.”

It is all laid out in the Nm’tginen. Generating revenue is the first step in being able to fund things like education.

“When we say repatriating, it doesn’t mean kicking everyone off,” said Jerome, who has gone on to create Senti Aboriginal and Environmental Services. “It’s about us having jurisdiction on our lands, us accessing our resources, and us taking care of our children.”

You may have noticed a giant electronic billboard in Listuguj recently.  Hopefully you learned something from it as well.

On November 29, 2016 Listuguj had the new electronic message board installed, complements of Listuguj Community Social Services.

Over the past few years Listuguj Community Health Services (LCHS) has been working on getting the electronic message board. The idea had been pitched to Health Canada for years. It was finally able to move forward this year.

“I wanted the community to see all of the possible programs and activities that are being offered,” said Donna Metallic, the Director of the LCHS.

The message board is centrally located, in hopes that everyone in the community will see it regularly. It will help keep people informed – 24 hours a day, seven days a week.

The idea isn’t entirely new.

“The first time I went to Mashteuiatsh up north they had a message board when you enter their community”, Metallic said.

Directly under a beautiful statue – a monument welcoming people to the community – there’s  screen, with a feed of all the activities going on. It was only for one directorate. Metallic immediately recognized how useful it could be for Listuguj. For all of Listuguj.

“I thought, ‘This is beautiful.’ It’s a beautiful way to showcase the happenings in the community,” she said. “What better way than to display it on a board in the middle of the community.”

The sign came from Pattison Sign Group in Edmunston, New Brunswick. The sign was made in Edmunston, and delivered and installed, with the help of Mic Mac Electric.

Metallic used a similar sign in Kanehsatake. It was modified to showcase the LCHS logo.

“I wanted to be able to have that on the sign,” she said. “I also wanted to showcase that the Health Center is an accredited organization, and it was a lot of work with staff and accredition coordinator that put us on the accreditation path of quality services that we provide to the community.”

The sign adds another level of communication for the community.

“I would like to see each of the directors use that sign to promote their activities,” Metallic said. “I want it to be used as much as possible, so that when you’re driving by – at any given time – then you will know what is going on.”

The sign will start to generate revenue starting January 9, 2017 for any additional information please contact the LMG IT/Communications department at sign@listuguj.ca

The New Brunswick Court of Queen’s Bench may have ruled in favour of Chaleur Terminals Inc. project on Aug. 5, but the Mi’gmawei Mawiomi Secretariat (MMS) doesn’t entirely consider it a loss.

“We were not able to halt any construction during the court case,” said Tanya Barnaby, the new Executive Director, who acted as the interim Executive Director since April.

Now, it’s on to the Federal Courts. An application to quash federally approved permits – similar to the provincially issued permits – has been filed.

“We’re also able to attack the project as a whole through the federal courts, whereas through the provincial courts, it had to be specific to certain permits,” said Barnaby.
“Our legal team has assured us that this is a good way forward.”

An appeal hasn’t been filed yet, but the MMS clearly disagrees with the New Brunswick court’s decision. As for other action, discussions with the leadership of the three communities will be held in the middle of September.

While the most cost effective way to challenge the transportation of 150,000 barrels of oil through the Restigouche region, has not been identified yet, the commit to stop it is loud and clear.

“We will stop the Chaleur Terminals trains,” said Barnaby.  “[The leadership’s] goal is to make sure that these trains do not come through our territory carrying this bitumen oil, and they’ll do what it takes to make sure that that doesn’t happen.”