Good morning Kahkewistahaw First Nation,
It’s a beautiful day in Treaty 4 Territory as the staff and students of Chief Kahkewistahaw Community School are bustling throughout the community for another eventful “Hurricane day!”
Last week, KFN Leadership formally signed an agreement with PointWest, who will be drilling three exploratory holes on KFN this fall at no cost to KFN. The drilling will help determine if potash is underneath our homelands and, if so, the quality and grade of that potash. The potash underneath KFN is ours, and if the resource proves viable, we intend to leverage it into the best economic deal possible for Kahkewistahaw and our people.
When KFN enters into partnerships, we want to understand who we are doing business with, and we also want our partners to understand who KFN is, where we come from, and what matters to our people. As you may remember from my post this past March, the Chinese investment group visited KFN. In turn, KFN Leadership may travel to China in mid-October to better understand where and how our potash could ultimately be used. My understanding is that much of the potash would be used in fertilizer for agriculture, including rice production. With limited agricultural land in China, maximizing crop production is extremely important to their people.
If this project moves forward, our expectations are clear: KFN must benefit through royalties, equity ownership, procurement opportunities for our business owners, and jobs and careers for our members, while also ensuring our lands and environment are protected to the greatest extent possible.
The potential is significant. A successful mine could operate for approximately 125 years, create 1500 full time jobs, and provide KFN with long-term own-source revenues. Those revenues could help us build and sustain the things our people need such as more housing, a elders care home, full-time medical and dental services, our own policing services, and much more.
But first things first: we need to drill the holes and see what is actually underneath our lands. Once the drilling is complete, PointWest will fully reclaim the sites, ensuring the areas are restored and preserved as though the drilling had never taken place.
Once we have those results and understand whether the project is viable, KFN Leadership will bring that information back to our members through community information meetings and, ultimately, a community vote. Our people will have the opportunity to make an informed and educated decision on whether we move forward.
I will keep everyone updated once we know when the drilling equipment will be arriving on KFN. We expect that to happen sometime this fall.
Have a great day, everyone, and remember that the CKCS Feast is today at 11:00 a.m. Unfortunately, I am away today helping friends prepare for their wedding, but I hope everyone enjoys the feast!
On behalf of KFN Council,
Chief Evan Taypotat
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