A look back at the tri-community’s Top 10 stories of 2024

In 2024, the Lac La Ronge Indian Band settled a historic $601.5 million Treaty 6 Agricultural Benefits Claim with the federal government. Each band member born on or before Aug. 23 is entitled to a $35,000 payout with $10,000 advances having arrived in bank accounts in December.

A large portion of the settlement will go towards band projects and investments. Also known as ‘cows and plows’, it refers to a commitment under Treaty 6 negotiated with Queen Victoria in 1876. It was a promise to assist First Nations in transitioning from a hunting-centric lifestyle to one more aligned with Euro-Canadian agriculture or livestock raising.

Team Woodland was crowned the 2024 Tony Cote Summer Games champions. The Lac La Ronge Indian Band hosted the large provincial sporting event in August and Team Woodland, of which the band is a part of, earned 100 medals and topped the charts in archery, athletics, canoeing, golf and soccer.

Team Woodland athletes of the 2024 Tony Cote Summer Games. (Derek Cornet/larongeNOW Staff)

The Tony Cote Summer Games attracted an estimated 5,000 people to the tri-communities, nearly doubling the normal population of about 6,000 residents. It proved to be an economic boom for businesses and leadership believe it will be a benefit when it comes to future tourism and the development of local athletes.

Jordan McPhail became the first ever Lac La Ronge Indian Band member to be elected as the MLA for the Cumberland constituency. McPhail ran for the Saskatchewan NDP and won with 55 per cent of the vote, or a 647 vote margin, over the Saskatchewan Party’s (runner up) Gregory Seib.

Lac La Ronge Indian Band Chief Tammy Cook-Season (left) with Cumberland NDP MLA Jordan McPhail. (Facebook/Jordan McPhail)

McPhail served two terms as a La Ronge councillor and he takes over the position from long-time politician Doyle Vermette.

larongeNOW was the first to report on a growing number of scurvy cases in the tri-communities. As of Nov. 14, doctors in La Ronge had diagnosed 27 cases following a sharp observation from a local clinician in May.

The story went on to make to make national news and brought to light the high cost of nutritional food in Northern Saskatchewan. The Lac La Ronge Indian Band hired Dr. Jeff Irvine to chair an investigation into Vitamin C deficiency among members and the wider community.

The Scattered Site Outreach Program, which provided essential services to the tri-community’s homeless, shutdown in June. The former executive director claimed there was too much opposition to its services after town council declined to support the Kikinahk Friendship Centre’s plan to purchase La Ronge’s Waterbase Inn in April.

Kikihahk received nearly $2 million from the federal government for the project with $1.7 million earmarked to purchase the Waterbase Inn. Since then, the Lac La Ronge Indian Band launched the Kitsaki Emergency Overnight Shelter with Air Ronge and La Ronge recently voting to fund a day program from December to the end of April 2025.

Métis Nation–Saskatchewan (MNS) funded the construction of two, three-bedroom modular duplexes along La Ronge’s Robertson Drive. It marks the first housing in La Ronge exclusively for Métis residents and the project was made possible through a $1.5 million investment.

A sod turning ceremony was held for the new project in October. (Facebook/Laura Burnouf)

The modular buildings were transported to La Ronge from Hague in November and occupancy is expected in early 2025. MNS is hoping to fund at least two more units in La Ronge next year.

In August, La Ronge Native Women’s Council (Piwapan) announced it has secured a federal housing grant. The funds ($2.8 million for capital and operations from National Indigenous Collaborative Housing Inc.) were used to purchase an undisclosed apartment building, which will be used for men and women with children fleeing domestic violence, as well as for youth who are leaving a dangerous environment.

Securing the grant was a big deal for the organization as it will allow it to provide safe housing for men facing violence who need a new start. Piwapan had mostly only provide services to men through their wellness outreach services.

Ron Woytowich, a long-time executive director of Kikinahk Friendship Centre retired in June. He moved to La Ronge to work at the friendship centre in January 1995 and he was offered the role of executive director in 1997.

Ron Woytowich called being the executive director at Kikinahk Friendship Centre the best job he ever had. (Derek Cornet/larongeNOW Staff)

Woytowich single-handedly brought millions of dollars in funding to the community, which supported a wide variety of projects over the years. He built a legacy as a community builder, he served as the mayor of La Ronge and he has since moved out of La Ronge to Southern Saskatchewan.

The Northern Lights School Division (NLSD), based in La Ronge, was recognized for its work towards Indigenization within its organization. At the Saskatchewan School Boards Association’s Fall Assembly in December, it was announced the division was the recipient of the Premier’s Board of Education Award for Innovation and Excellence.

Examples of Indigenization undertaken by Northern Lights include the renaming of three schools, changing the school division’s logo, supporting teacher education programs, launching a new Land, Language and Culture Program, hosting an annual Indigenous Language Summit, and offering Indigenous language immersion classes in Beauval, Cumberland House, La Loche, La Ronge and Pinehouse Lake.

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derek.cornet@pattisonmedia.com

by Derek Cornet

A look back at the tri-community’s Top 10 stories of 2024

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