“I always say, I still don't know what I'm going to do when I grow up, ”says Margaret Kenequanash. She  is from North Caribou Lake First Nation and lives in Thunder Bay for her work on the Watay Power project. When she isn’t working, she spends time with friends and family, particularly her grandchildren. She previously worked as the executive director of the Shibogama First Nations Council and energy was a big issue during her tenure. Connecting Nations to the transmissions grid, bringing reliable energy to the North were part of her mandate and it’s something she’s been working on for nearly two decades.

Over the course of the project, 1800 kilometers of line have been built going into the nations and 13 nations have been energized. The project is targeted to be completed in April of 2025 and was a lot more complex than first thought. They initially thought they could just connect to the existing grid but there wasn’t enough energy to connect everyone. With the additional complications of pandemic and forest fires and the sheer size of the project area, it was a lot to undertake. “I always say, if there's a world, there's a way, and we continue to do what we have to do and move forward. As long as we are willing to work together, we can achieve many things as Indigenous people of the homeland,” Kenequanash beams.

This $1.9 billion project has involved the hard work of many Indigenous people thanks to an Indigenous participation guide where there was a plan set out to ensure that Indigenous people were involved. There was a training plan and Opiikapawiin Services delivered 55 training programs so over 600 people were trained, allowing them to assemble towers, work on right of way clearing, and stringing the line. The organization also did community engagement and capacity building. In 25 years, the nations will take over the utility company.

Previously, energy was provided through unreliable diesel generators that needed to be replaced. The cost over 40 years was over $1.5 billion and the energy situation was such that communities couldn’t expand or address housing, infrastructure or community development needs. For this new project, with seven funders collectively there were a lot of people at the table and there was a strong need to make the project sustainable so as to not burden future generations. The model also had to consider First Nations ownership.

When it came to obstacles for the organization, Kenequanash found the policies and priorities of the government as they related to First Nations ownership required setting ground and promotion to establish the relationship needed for Indigenous participation in major projects. The pandemic was another challenge that threatened to put a halt to everything and needed a health and safety plan to keep going.

Her advice for listeners who want to be involved in a big project like this would be to start learning and figuring out your career path, something that is a lifelong experience. “No matter how old you are, you are going to learn from other people. You have to become educated,” she advises, recommending learning from colonial education systems for the benefit of First Nations communities. At the same time, she suggests that as Indigenous people we”ground ourselves in understanding who we are as Indigenous people, our language, our culture, our way of life, because that's the foundation of who we are. We're not going to change that. So you combine the two, you become a force, and that's the change that you need to make.”

“You can learn from the elders, you can learn from your parents, you can learn from leaders. Surround yourself with people that you can learn from and educate yourself, as well as go into mainstream society to become a professional, because we need lots of professionals today, where we have a shortfall of professionals in our area, and we need to build that capacity, especially if we want to set up big infrastructure, utility companies, or any kind of other major projects like this, that's where we need help,” she continues.

Thinking of her own education, Kenequanash went to an all girls high school, raised her family and worked for two decades before feeling stuck. She realized she needed to get an education to get ahead so she went back to school to study business, something she really enjoyed. She wants to go back again later in life and believes it’s never too late but she encourages people to go to school when they are young if they can.

The energy project fell in her lap, though it’s important and a major priority. When the project is completed, Kenequanash expects she will continue to work, clean her house and enjoy her grandchildren, depending on what leadership decides they want her role to be.

In closing, Kenquanash says, “I would like to tell our youth that they need to become visionaries. We need to see 20, 40, 50 years ahead of us. Sometimes things around us, it just feels like there's no way out if you just focus on what's around you, but if you become open minded, and you start thinking ahead, and yes, some of you may not have children yet, and some of you are going to become grandparents in the future, great grandparents. That's the kind of vision that we need to start establishing, and helps you determine what it is you want to leave behind for your children and for your people, and be proud of who you are. Be proud of your language. Be proud of your Indigenous background, be proud of your cultural heritage. Find out what that is and learn about it. That's the strength that you have as an Indigenous person, and if you're not Indigenous, learn about our people. Educate yourself about our people. We're very good people. We're fascinating people.”

She may not know what she wants to do “when she grows up”, but Margaret Kenequanash has made a big difference in energizing Northern Ontario communities and connecting them to reliable power. She has been on a mission for decades to bring reliable energy to First Nations communities and she’s leading a successful project that is making it happen. Empowering communities to grow after feeling stuck herself, she’s expanding alongside and creating new opportunities for so many Indigenous people.