“They cut corners every day, every day,” said Justin Gee, vice-president of First Nations Engineering Services Ltd.
Gee said he encountered these recurring problems while overseeing the work of a construction firm, Kingdom Construction Limited (KCL), during the building of a water treatment plant 10 years ago in Wasauksing First Nation, along the eastern shore of Georgian Bay, about 250 kilometres north of Toronto.
“You have to be on them every step of the way,” said Gee, who was the contract administrator on the project. “You can’t leave them on their own.”
Today, this plant is among seven First Nations water and wastewater infrastructure projects in two provinces, funded by the federal government, that have all involved work by KCL, an Ontario-based firm.
A cultural renaissance is blooming in Canada, led by Black and Indigenous artists
Laila El Mugammar: At its centre is public art, literature and more. The Canada emerging is one where I am visible. By Laila El Mugammar
December 15, 2020 Joseph in front of his mural, Hope Through Ashes: A Requiem for Hogan’s Alley (Rochelle Leung)
Laila El Mugammar is a Sudanese-Canadian writer and student. Her academic and creative work maps the historic Black presence in Canada.
On Gaukel Street in Kitchener, Ont., perpendicular to city hall, a black bear greets pedestrians with watery and speculative eyes.
Makade Makwa. Near her, a frog crouches, its back glimmering and pale in the sunlight.