Financing is in place for shíshálh Nation Government District’s (sNGD) $8 million wastewater treatment project on the Nation’s ts'uḵw'um lands.
The Nation and the Canada Infrastructure Bank (CIB) announced agreement on a CIB loan of $6.4 million to support a new Port Stalashen wastewater treatment plant via a Nov. 2 joint press release. The borrowing comes through CIB’s Indigenous Community Infrastructure Initiative.
CIB spokesperson Hillary Thatcher told Coast Reporter that the Nation has secured $1.6 million as a pre-payment from a private developer to secure wastewater treatment capacity in the new facilities.
“The shíshálh Nation is very pleased with the arrangements finalized for the long-term funding of this project. It exemplifies a great working relationship between our municipal First Nations Government and the CIB. The agreement reminds me of why our Nation decided to go down the Self-Governing path in the first place. It shows how issues can be meaningly addressed through a collaborative discussion and agreement. This bodes well for the future,” shíshálh Nation hiwus Warren Paull stated in the release.
The first phase of the project, construction of a modernized and larger treatment plant, is under way. The work is proceeding at the same location where the sNGD operated a similar facility that has reached the end of its operational life after serving the surrounding area for 26 years. Thatcher said the new structure is estimated to cost $6 million and is slated for completion in 2023.
After the new plant is online, a $2 million upgrade to the outfall at the site is to commence, with that project forecast to complete in late 2023 or early 2024.
“This new replacement plant and improved outfall will serve 91 connected residential units and support the conversion and connection of 88 buildings, which currently rely on septic wastewater systems. The additional capacity this plant provides makes it possible for the shíshálh Nation to develop and connect future high-density residential housing developments. It also has additional capacity to tie in nearby future developments within the District of Sechelt,” the release stated.
“The investment in new wastewater treatment will greatly reduce impacts to the ocean environment by significantly improving the quality of effluent which will meet more stringent modern wastewater standards far into the future.
The project with the shíshálh Nation is the third approved under CIB’s Indigenous Community Infrastructure Initiative, which was launched at a March 2021 First Nation Major Project Coalition meeting. Thatcher said that event, hosted virtually due to COVID-19 pandemic restrictions, had more than 1,000 online attendees and that the shíshálh connected with them about the project within a month of that launch.
The Port Stalashen project is the initiative’s first foray into the field of wastewater treatment, and Thatcher said she sees it as having national significance. “We believe that this really is a model that can be replicated easily across the country, coast to coast to coast, where there are significant gaps in wastewater infrastructure and need for improvements. We are really excited to be working with shíshálh to lead the way,” she stated.
Thatcher who visited the project site early this year said “it was pretty incredible, the level of development that is happening and the approach that the community is taking to leading that development for their people.”
