Brian Zinchuk is editor and owner of Pipeline Online
First Nations dancers opened up the forum on Nov. 8. Photo by Brian Zinchuk
SASKATOON – It’s not typical to start an energy conference with traditional First Nation drumming and dance, but then again, Westinghouse might be doing things a bit differently.
On Nov. 8 at Saskatoon’s Prairieland Park, nuclear reactor builder Westinghouse held its first suppliers symposium in Saskatchewan.
Westinghouse made clear it is intent on involving Indigenous people from the very start. The event was put on by the Saskatchewan Industrial Mining Suppliers Association (SIMSA). Joining SIMSA executive director Eric Anderson in hosting the event was Sheldon Wuttunee, president and chief executive officer Saskatchewan First Nations Natural Resource Centre of Excellence Inc. The first hour of the event included several dances performed, drumming and singing. The table at the front corner was filled with First Nations band chiefs and business leaders of numerous First Nations-owned ventures. Wuttunee, himself, is a former chief of Red Pheasant Cree Nation, south of the Battlefords.
Sheldon Wuttunnee, right. Photo by Brian Zinchuk
Wuttunee started out saying, “I’m really thankful that Eric and Westinghouse have invited us out to share a little bit about who we are. And as you know, much of the conversation today will be around business, economic development supply chain and power generation into the future, and as First Nations people, we certainly do our best to try and pass on our teachings, our ways of life, our cultural ways of life, and try to help ensure that our next generation is able to practice those as they wish, and also provide them that opportunity to be proud of who they are.
“And so, we participate a lot in our in our culture and ceremonies, and also in powwow. So we travel to many powwows throughout the summer and the winter to be able to practice our ways of life, and a big part of our ways of life as well is prayer.”
An opening prayer by his daughter, Reese, was followed by several dances on stage, accompanied by drumming and singing.
After that, he noted, “You know, it’s very important for not only us as First Nations, us as Indigenous people, to learn more about the nuclear sector, to learn more about the oil and gas, the mining sector and so forth. But it’s equally important, if not more important, for industry and governments to better understand who we are as First Nations people.
“And we often approach things quite cautiously, but optimistic, in terms of being able to benefit from a lot of the natural resource and energy projects that we’re going to be welcoming, here in Saskatchewan.
“And Westinghouse has been here for a number of years. I know that we’ve met and had a lot of dialog over the last few years. And you know, I think that as we look forward, you’re going to have a major footprint here in Saskatchewan.”
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Saskatchewan First Nations Natural Resource Centre of Excellence
“And for us here at the centre, we are wholly owned by 74 First Nations across this province, across our treaty territories. And so, it’s a vast amount of responsibility, but a great opportunity for engagement. And our center has been built by our leadership, by our elders, to really play that role of an interface for greater learning, to help connect the dots, if you will, to help connect the dots for you, as industry, and government officials with us as First Nations people, but also for our First Nations leadership, for elders and our youth to better understand industry.
“Because I think when we put everything aside, we want to know what you know, and you want to know what we know to help pave the way for the future. And so, gatherings like this, conversations that we have together, is going to go into benefit.
“We may not always agree on every point, but we really come from the notion that we need to protect our lands. We need to protect our waters for these children and our future generations.
“And so, at different times, we call upon our ceremonial people. We call upon our dancers. We call upon our drummers, and those that don’t go to call and so this morning, we’re going to share a little bit of that with you.”
First Nations dancers opened up the forum on Nov. 8. Photo by Brian Zinchuk
A little later on, Wuttunee said, “Within our families and within our nations, we do focus a lot on encouraging and promoting our children to get a good education,
“And that education journey can take many different forms. Of course, our western formal education, you go to school nine to three, but also in our cultural and ceremonial way of life, is absolutely critical. We face a lot of problems as First Nations people, and a lot of concern with respect to our language and our culture and the opportunity to continue to practice that. And a lot of times the industrial sector gets the finger point to that.
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“But somehow we need to create economic development and security for the future and energy.
“And we want to be a part of that story as well, here in the province, in our in our treaty, in traditional territory.
“And so we’re working really hard as First Nations people, to become educated, to be involved, to be collaborative, to meet at the table. They see our chiefs. They’re here. They’re going to be here throughout the day. You’ll see us hosting more events as well, alongside SIMSA, our good partners, Eric and so with that, I just want to, I guess, just to share a bit of a message that we are here as First Nations people.
“We practice our ceremony and our culture each and every day. We want to meet at the table to discuss how we move this, move in this energy journey, moving forward. And I know that’s why you’re all here today. So I’m glad we could share a little bit. You can see the importance. You can see that our kids are practicing it. It’s not just a story, it’s not yesterday, it’s today and it’s the future. So I appreciate you taking the time to learn a little bit about who we are, to meet our children, to meet our families, and thank you to Wild Horse, Boston, Paula and and my nephews and my son for being here to share some songs for us this morning, for this really good. So thank you.”
- 0088 WBPC_2025_30SEC_PROMO0088 WBPC_2025_30SEC_PROMO
- 0087 Lori Carr Coal Expansion0087 Lori Carr Coal Expansion
- 0086 Sask Gov Oil and Gas Incentive Programs0086 Sask Gov Oil and Gas Incentive Programs
- 0085 Turnbull snow removal call office0085 Turnbull snow removal call office
- 0084 EMP Metals Pipeline Online0084 EMP Metals Pipeline Online
- 0077 Caprice Resources Stand Up For Free Speech0077 Caprice Resources Stand Up For Free Speech
- 0076 Latus only0076 Latus only
- 0061 SIMSA 2024 For Sask Buy Sask0061 SIMSA 2024 For Sask Buy Sask
- 0055 Smart Power Be Smart with your Power office0055 Smart Power Be Smart with your Power office
- 0051 JML Hiring Pumpjack assembly0051 JML Hiring Pumpjack assembly
- 0049 Scotsburn Dental soft guitar0049 Scotsburn Dental soft guitar
- 0041 DEEP Since 2018 now we are going to build0041 DEEP Since 2018 now we are going to build
- 0032 IWS Summer hiring rock trailer music
- 0022 Grimes winter hiring
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