Northern Ont. First Nation invests $65M in Edmonton property

Wiikwemkoong Unceded Territory has invested $65 million in a downtown Edmonton's Connect Centre to create long-term revenue for community needs.

Leadership in Wiikwemkoong Unceded Territory on Manitoulin Island said its recent $65 million investment is about the future for its community members – but the location of that new property is generating a lot of questions.

It’s the Connect Centre in downtown Edmonton – more than 3,000 kilometers away.

“It was bigger than a property acquisition,” said Ogimaa Tim Ominika.

“It was about generating and looking at a long-term sustainability for our community moving forward.”

The First Nation leader explained to CTV News that the band council was made aware of the turnkey property last fall and even though its two provinces away the property will provide financial sustainability for his community.

“If offered the strongest combination of value, stability and growth potential at that time, when it was presented to us,” said Ominika.

There are already long-term tenants in the Connect Centre, with potential to construct a further 30-35 stories for either residential or commercial space.

In a post on his Facebook page, the Mayor of Edmonton, Andrew Knack said it’s “a clear signal that our downtown has momentum. It echoes that the potential we see in Edmonton extends beyond city limits; investors are also listening and recognizing the opportunities our city has to offer.”

Ominika called the investment and ‘outside of the box’ opportunity to generate revenue for his community.

“This would allow us to put those funds that are going to be generated towards either healthcare systems that some of our band members may be having issues with, some housing developments – not only on but off-reserve and transportation and medical needs,” the chief said.

“If we look at generating our own source revenue, we would be able to find and stream those dollars as we control them through investments and purchases to allow to support our memberships within our First Nation community.”

Prior to the deal being inked, Ogimaa Ominika said he reached out to local leadership in the Edmonton area.

“We didn’t go into someone else’s land to look at acquiring land. This was about relationship building and I am sure that I communicated that and spoke with those other leaders out there prior to even moving forward with this,” he said.

Ominika was also adamant Wiikwemkoong did not use money from the Robinson Huron Treaty settlement. Financing came from a loan guarantee.

Despite fielding many questions from the Wiikwemkoong community and beyond Ominika confirmed there is no buyers’ remorse. Before signing on the dotted line, the leadership did its due diligence throughout the process.

“It could be a little bit frightening to do something of this magnitude, and what I thought, and we shared with the leadership is that let’s look at: what could possibly happen by doing this?” Ominika said.

“We do understand that a large investment such as this is going to allow us to open more doors for us at a larger scale.”