By LEN GILLIS

The Timmins Times

The Mushkegowuk Council, a large Northeastern Ontario Aboriginal organization, is positioning itself to become a major player in the Ring of Fire development by providing electrical energy to that whole project.

Lawrence Martin, the newly elected Grand Chief of the Mushkegowuk Council told The Timmins Times on Friday that plans are being worked on to bring upwards of a thousand megawatts of energy from Quebec to service the Ring of Fire and to service Timmins if a smelter is needed here. He said this can all be done through the corporate jurisdiction of Five Nations Energy Inc., an Aboriginal energy distribution company.

Martin, who will be sworn in as the new grand chief on Tuesday, said the Mushkegowuk Council, has been discussing major electrical infrastructure improvements for many months already.

Just a few years ago, Martin was known as the Mayor of Cochrane. He was elected to the post of grand chief that was left vacant by the death of well-known Grand Chief Stan Louttit, who died in June after a struggle with cancer.

Martin was elected in a recent council by-election over six other candidates, also well-known within the Mushkegowuk First Nations communities. They were Peter Wesley, Roderick Sutherland, Theresa Hall, Annie Metat, Peter Nakogee and Edward Nakogee.

In a discussion of his priorities for the Mushkegowuk Council, Martin said the organization has been working hard to expand economic opportunities.

"One of things we were working on was the infrastructure project, we call it. We're trying to provide infrastructure into the Ring of Fire as a way for Mushkegowuk to become participants, and not just standing by and watching the action go by us," he said.

The Ring of Fire refers to a massive deposit of chromite located in the McFauld's Lake and Webequie area, about 600 kilometres north west of Timmins. Chromite is an important element in manufacturing stainless steel. The Ring of Fire area could become the largest chromite mining site in North America, a venture measured in the tens of billions of dollars.

Martin said the scope of the project is far too big and too lucrative to sit back and not get involved.

"So what we're working on is looking at a hydro transmission line from Quebec, to just north of Cochrane, between Cochrane and Moosonee. And then, from there we would run it along the James Bay," he said.

Martin said Five Nations Energy has an easement through the James Bay lowlands, where it already runs high voltage lines from Moosonee into such communities as Fort Albany, Kashechewan and Attawapiskat. He said the next step is to bring high voltage transmission lines into the Ring of Fire.

"So our job now is to work with the Matawa Tribal Council to see how we can get them to become partners in that effort," said Martin. The Matawa First Nations is the Aboriginal organization that claims jurisdiction over the Ring of Fire lands.

Martin said if Mushkegowuk succeeds with the energy rights, the next step would involve getting mining companies such as Noront Resources or KWG Resources to become customers. He said it all depends on getting an agreement with Matawa.

"We did have a couple of meetings now and we are exploring what this partnership is going to look like," said Martin.

"And the attractive thing is that we can expand even further than the Ring of Fire and start looking at energizing their communities because they're on diesel right now," he said, referring to the fact that many Aboriginal communities rely on diesel powered generators for electricity.

ENERGY FOR TIMMINS TOO

Along with that, Martin said he is excited about the prospect of Five Nations Energy buying up huge blocks of cheap energy from Hydro Quebec.

"And we're now talking to Hydro Quebec about bringing in one thousand megawatts of power. It means we can sell the 300 megawatts that Timmins would require if they are to have a processing plant for their Ring of Fire project," he said.

"This is very exciting stuff for us," said Martin. "It explores the whole notion of we can develop the north together, but this time the First Nations are going to take a lead in it. And that is a big issue.

Getting back to local governance, Martin said his other priorities involve seeking improvements water and sewer facilities in small aboriginal communities around the North. He adds there are also concerns about health care in smaller communities and the availability of health-related travel funding.