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FIRST NATIONS COMPANY PROVIDES VITAL ROADBUILDING SERVICES TO REMOTE COMMUNITIES
Kimesskanemenow is a Cree word that means, "This is our Road," a fitting name for the winter road management company that is owned and operated by four northern First Nations; Attawapiskat, Fort Albany, Kashechewan, and Moose Cree.
Their company, Kimesskanemenow Corporation, (also known as K Corp) was founded in 2001, and for the past 15 years, has been responsible for building and maintaining the Western James Bay Winter Road (JBWR), which starts in Moosonee and travels 312km up the western coast of James Bay, connecting the communities of Fort Albany and Kashechewan, and eventually ending at the Attawapiskat First Nation.
The road is a lifeline to the remote areas in the James Bay Lowlands of Northern Ontario and without it, existing and future development of this part of the country would not be possible.
In fact, it's thanks to the road that K Corp helped build that companies like De Beers Canada are in the north.
As most people know, De Beers Canada made international headlines when it built the Victor Mine in 2006, (the first diamond mine in Ontario at a cost of about $1 billion) approximately 90km west of the coastal community of Attawapiskat First Nation.
Since...