This project will have meaningful and lasting impact if the people of Île-à-la-Crosse and Sakitawak have full ownership of the project’s aspirations, goals and objectives.
A lot of research, studies, and consultations have been conducted by the community and by others on various resource, hunting, harvesting, and species at risk issues. This project will set out to bring together various interests led by the Sakitawak Management Team, under common goals of conservation.
The intent is to put these efforts under this program into a permanent structure, but to get there, we need to first gather information and consensus from community members. Various forms of engagement are taking place; meetings, interviews, gatherings, zoom calls with individuals, councils, organizations, and various government officials will guide the first phase and contribute to the development of a conservation plan.
It is important to always be in conversation with community members and those whose knowledge of the area is a representation of the traditional and current use which will guide the process. Elders to youth, nurses, teachers, parents, trappers, and fishermen; must take full ownership of this project until it becomes something more permanent in structure. Consultations will be made with outreach to non-Indigenous people who have lived in the community for 15 years. Île-à-la-Crosse is and has always been inclusive of all others who live in community. This is not a project, this is a community.
Identified Community Stakeholders
Elders
Village of Ile a la Crosse – Mayor and Council
Elders Group – Healing the Land – N-14 Caribou
Fisherman Association – Big Island Fisherman’s Cooperative
N-14 – Trappers Cooperation
Wild Rice Producers
Sakitawak Greenhouse
Rossignol Elementary School, Ile a la Crosse School Division #112
Rossignol High School
Outfitters – (10) until otherwise identified
Cabin owners – 50 outside owners
A la Baie Métis Local
Canoe River Métis Local
Sakitawak Development Corporation
Radio Station – CILX
Île-à-la-Crosse Friendship Centre
Primrose Lake Economic Development Corporation
Gabriel Dumont Institute
Northwest Policy Unit
Métis Nation – Saskatchewan
Identified External Stakeholders
Northwest Wood Products
PA Model Forest
Ducks Unlimited
Northern Trappers Association
Beauval
Buffalo Narrows
Canoe Lake First Nation
English River First Nation
Hamlet of Patuanak
Buffalo River First Nation – Dillon
Boreal Conservation
Carrier
Mistik Management
Government of Saskatchewan – Environment
Physicians for the Environment
Waterkeepers International
David Suzuki
Jenna Boon – UNESCO
others
Sakitawak Conservation Project 