RESIDENTS ELATED WITH ANNOUNCEMENT BY PREMIER
(Miawpukek/Conne River) A very large representation of the local population turned out Friday afternoon to hear the much awaited verification of the recent rumor that their community would finally get the highway they waited so long for.
Premier Tobin, MP Roger Simmons and MHA Oliver Langdon helicoptered into the community and announced that construction and paving of the road will begin this fall. Residents packed into the First Nation's government chambers in the Great Hall, and after hearing the excellent drumming and voices of the community's best Mi'kmaq drummers and singers, listened with bated breath as Premier Tobin announced that tenders for engineering on the highway will be called within the next two to three weeks. He said later "The only way to make sure that the Conne River miracle can be shown up as an example to the rest of the province was by constructing the road so that people can come in to see it for themselves."
The premier was a bit upstaged by MP Roger Simmons' comments who explained the upcoming process of engineering work, construction and paving, ending with "And we expect to do all this by September of next year!" To this the assembled answered with exchanged looks of relief and amazement that all this would happen so fast. "That fast!" said one resident in amazement to this reporter. Shouts of "Wow! "Yes!" whistles and hand clapping followed. Mr. Simmons said the completion of this highway,"...will be a dream come true..." for him. Referring to an election long past when a previous political party "Dumped gravel across the river" to get votes, he said "The nice reality about this announcement was that this was not during an election".
MHA Oliver Langdon then followed with his comments, stating that he was "...tickled pink..." to be part of this announcement. He gave credit to the Premier, saying "That this could not have happened, if not for Premier Tobin." He felt this was "the missing link" that Conne needed.
Saqamaw Misel Joe's opening and closing remarks at the announcement were remarks of elation and gratitude for and on behalf of his people. After he gave Premier Tobin a pair of moccasins and presented him also with a root basket from the community's newest basket makers, he gave a brief summary of his and his people's struggles not only to get a decent road connection for his community but also to just get the attention of the various governments to his community's plight.
He reminded everyone, that it was very hard work getting all the right people to listen to his people's request for assistance. And his people's struggles seemed all the more futile when other roads were being constructed and other roads were being paved all around them. He expressed his people's feelings of being totally ignored over the twenty or more years since they were first thrown the tidbit of the poorly constructed forest access road into the community.
He said he felt the combination of political forces in power in the country after the last provincial election was just the right combination and he said he went all out for the highway. He was very happy now that his work had proven fruitful.
Funding for the highway will come from the Department of Indian Affairs in Ottawa and the province will underwrite it's maintenance and upkeep.
The community has just completed a two year project on their own which saw the less than 10 kilometers of main roads and byways in the community upgraded and paved.
Residents had felt that completion of that project was all they could have expected to get done until the land rights and negotiations were concluded some time in the future. The announcement of the final phase of the roads issue came about as a surprise and a relief to all.
(This part of the story didn't make it into the final copy) Miawpukek Government's policies and the hard work of community members is seen as the reason behind the community's newfound prosperity. Miawpukek has risen through the years from a poor downtrodden community, ignored and looked down upon by some of it's neighbors, to become a fast growing community, envied by some of its neighbors, but whose good fortunes are benefiting those same neighbors as well as itself. Today, there just as many people outside the community benefiting from direct or indirect employment because of the community's enterprises as there are within. The community hopes that this highway will build on this relationship and looks forward to more positive developments in the future.