'Dream' fish-processing plant to reel in jobs for northern Sask.
New facility expected to haul in $1.5M in its 1st year
A new "dream" fish-processing facility in the northern Saskatchewan village of Île-à-la-Crosse is expected to haul in $1.5 million in revenue in its first year and create jobs in a region with limited employment.
On Tuesday, the Ile-a-la Crosse Fish Company will open the doors to its new fish-processing plant, which the community — 380 kilometres northwest of Saskatoon — has been working to build for at least five years.
The new plant will employ 18 full-time workers and about 12 casuals in the community of about 1,300 people.
Île-à-la-Crosse Mayor Duane Favel said the launch is "huge" for his community.
"The thing with northern Saskatchewan communities is not everybody wants to leave," said Favel.
"And we have some very talented and skilled and hardworking community members so this will give them a viable option to be able to stay home and work and still make a living."
Plant to process 750,000 kg of fish
The village was the principal applicant for the grant that paid for the construction of the plant, which was also driven by investment from the Sakitawak Development Corporation.
The fish company expects to process some 750,000 kilograms of fish in its first year, 250,000 more than it processed last year.
If local fishermen start fishing more of the region's lakes, it could process up to a million kilograms yearly.
Project co-ordinator Celine Favreau said it has been a "dream" for the community.
"Besides trapping, [fishing is] one of the oldest traditional ways of earning a living," said Favreau.
"To me, I think it's probably been one of the most special projects I've ever worked on in my career because it's a local sustainable resource industry that is near and dear to the hearts of the people that live in the North."
According to Favreau, Saskatchewan currently supplies almost 25 per cent of the product to the federal government's fish sales and marketing corporation, Freshwater Fish.
Room to grow
Last year there were 105 licensed fishermen supplying their catch to the Ile-a-la Crosse Fish Company.
Favreau said most of the outfits were run by lone operators who usually employ about two extra workers.
With the new facility, the company will start processing fish roe and vacuum-sealed fillets of pike and whitefish to be sold to Freshwater Fish.
For now, Favreau said it would be up to the fish-selling corporation to decide if the fish will be exported. But she said in the future, the company also plans to build the capacity to sell its products overseas.
Opening doors for young people
Mayor Favel hopes the facility will create local opportunities for young people in the community, which has been devastated by youth suicides in the past.
"A lot of our young people here, not everybody is going to go on to secondary education and not everyone is going to leave the community," said Favel.
"So we have to start looking at providing opportunities for those kids that are going to stay in the community."
The facility will be launched on Tuesday with a "fish-cutting" ceremony in which local leaders will fillet the first lake catch at the facility.
The public is being invited to tour the plant during an open house from 11 a.m. to 7 p.m. CST.