THUNDER BAY — Premier Doug Ford looked to highlight provincial investments in Indigenous training initiatives during a whirlwind Northwestern Ontario stop on Thursday.
“I always joke around with [Minister of Indigenous Affairs] Greg [Rickford], I said, I should be the Minister of Indigenous Affairs, because I’m getting calls from chiefs literally every single week, almost every single day. So everyone’s welcome to come down and pay us a visit and have a chat.” During Ford’s visit on Thursday, Marten Falls Chief Bruce Achneepineskum said he agrees the premier should meet directly with those leaders, even if his community sometimes may not share their approach to mining development.
The premier announced the province had approved a carpentry apprenticeship program at Kiikenomaga Kikenjigewen Employment & Training Services , which serves nine Matawa First Nations including Marten Falls. The agreement comes with provincial dollars to support training, but a spokesperson for the premier said the size of that commitment wasn’t immediately available.That includes $2 million for a more than 7,000-square-foot training complex build by Ne-Daa-Kii-Me-Naan, intended to promote First Nations participation in the forest sector, and another $2 million for First Nations-owned Minodahmun Development to develop the Migizi Commercial Plaza.
Asked how the government is supporting housing availability in the north, Ford pointed to those assets, each recently acquired by new companies.