Fisher River Cree Nation is getting a new school, community centre and Child and Family services complex.
The community made the announcement at a ceremony on Wednesday morning.
The plans call for a $25.5 million school for grades 7-12, a $4.3 million community centre and a $3.6 million child and family services office.
Construction on the Child and Family services complex is already underway, while work on the school and community centre is scheduled to begin in early June, according to Chief David Crate.
Crate said the community centre is being funded by the community itself, while the province is chipping in some money for the Child and Family services centre.
Crate said a new school is badly needed.
“The existing school is going on 46 years old, and that’s K-12,” said Crate. “It’s really overcrowded.”
It’s also the second oldest First Nations school in the province, he said.
The projects are also expected to bring more money into the community, while benefitting local businesses.
“It’s going to be well over $7 million in terms of an investment or spinoff sent to the local economy,” he said. “This would be from material supply to lodging, to fuel. The labour is going to be a big part of it, we’ll have a lot of people employed on these projects.”
Crate said there were about 200 people at the ceremony on Wednesday.
Fisher River has a population of just over 3,000 people and is located roughly 200 kilometres north of Winnipeg.
