Nahanni Butte is set to transform drastically over the coming months and years thanks to a number of new construction projects.
“There has been a lot of action going on around Nahanni Butte,” said Steve Vital, the chief of the community of fewer than 100 people.
“I’m hoping the community looks a lot different [in the next few years].
“We are working together with our staff to make things better for the community and make the community a better place to live.”
One of the most important projects underway in Nahanni Butte is the completion of a new seven-unit modular residential development. All of the supplies for the construction of the new residences arrived before the local ice road closed in early April, which allowed workers to begin construction while residents waited for the river taxi service to commence in early May.
Elsewhere in town, the community’s bed and breakfast is being expanded. Three new rooms are being added to the property, initially to accommodate the workers required to build the new residential units.
Work is also underway on a new performance stage, which Vital hopes will be complete by August or September, at which point the community will have a new venue for live music, comedy, fashion shows and more.
The chief and his team are also hoping Nahanni Butte’s new fitness centre will be completed by August or September. The fitness centre will be housed in a pair of renovated trailers, which together will offer about 1,400 square feet for a range of exercise equipment. Vital joked that he plans to work on his fitness in the facility, “as long as there’s an air conditioner in there.”
The many projects underway around Nahanni Butte have created jobs, and caused the community’s population to rise — hence the need for the new residential complex.
The addition of new residents has also created a need to expand the band office.
In 2021, there were only five or six people working in the office. As of the first quarter of this year, that number has grown to nearly 30. Several of those employees are working out of the office’s boardroom.
“We wanted to give them better space, and also the boardroom, we wanted to keep it empty for our meetings and other stuff,” said Vital.
As with the housing units, the additional office materials also arrived before the ice road closed, allowing for construction to begin.
In addition to the many projects that are already underway around Nahanni Butte, the chief and his staff are also pushing ahead on two other initiatives. The first aims to have solar-powered street lights installed at the local boat launch, which also serves as the river taxi crossing. The project is in the “design phase,” according to the chief, and now hinges on funding from the federal government.
The other big initiative that Vital and his colleagues are pushing for is the creation of an all-season bridge.
When Nahanni Butte’s ice road closes each spring, residents are isolated until the ice clears from the river, and the river taxi service can commence. The problem repeats itself in the fall, when river taxi services concludes, and residents must wait for the ice road to freeze.
Leaders in Nahanni Butte have been pushing for a bridge for years. They are currently finalizing a report on the potential project, which they hoped to have completed in May. Then, according to Vital, they plan to “engage the federal government and the GNWT” in hopes of advancing the project.
With so many projects on the go, and others in development, it is certainly an exciting time for the community, and Vital believes residents are feeling optimistic about the future.
“I think everybody’s happy with what they’re seeing come up within the community, because not only are we getting a lot of infrastructure, we’re also creating a lot of jobs for everybody,” the chief said.