Indigenous company wants to see port to port corridor with Prince Albert as a hub

Global shifts in trade partnerships – triggered by US protectionism and uncertainty caused by President Donald Trump’s economic policies – have further led to Canada’s reliance on doing business with the United States dropping and a move to other trading partners. That means finding physical ways to access markets.

Creating a corridor between B.C. and Manitoba through the far north of the Saskatchewan is not reasonable, according to Pisim Power, because of the negative impact to caribou herds that rely on that area along with general geographical concerns.

“Instead, we are now initiating a feasibility study on what will be a mid-northern corridor centered in Saskatchewan and centered at Prince Albert,” said Ukrainetz.

The corridor would enter Saskatchewan near Onion Lake/Lloydminster and travel northeast, avoiding the Saskatchewan River delta to connect near Flin Flon and The Pas, Manitoba.

From there it would connect with the Hudson Bay Rail line which reaches to the Port of Churchill. The port is being expanded with an eye to shipping more critical minerals along with the grain it already ships.

Prime Minister Mark Carney, Manitoba Premier Wab Kinew and Saskatchewan Premier Scott Moe have publicly supported the Churchill expansion and road/rail access to it.

Pisim’s vision is a multimodal corridor that would include rail, pipelines, green energy infrastructure, transmission lines and support manufacturing and production.

“North-central Saskatchewan will be the central hub, and sectors that will directly benefit include ag, energy, mining, forestry, and manufacturing,” Ukrainetz said.

“But most importantly, we’re placing a high priority for this all to be led financially by First Nations.”

The corridor Pisim is proposing would impact 110 First Nations that lie within 25 kilometres of it, including 33 in Saskatchewan.

“Each of these nations should and will be aligned in everything being built and developed on the corridor,” he said. “And our company has already begun establishing partnerships for global investment dollars and low rate borrowing for First Nations communities to invest in this project.”

The company already has support from the Province of Alberta and is seeking further support from municipalities across Western Canada for the notion that the corridor needs to be led by First Natons.

“We see Prince Albert being the cornerstone community with that,” Ukrainetz stated.

Mayor Bill Powalinsky said he welcomed the news and the initiative.

“We’ve been loudly declaring that we are now a hub city and certainly one of the visions has been to look at developing that rail line,” he said. “So your timing is perfect.”

He went on to suggest that the company that just recently bought the Prince Albert Pulp Mill might be open to data centres on the facility as it has power generating capability and is close to water.

The motion to write a letter of support was unanimous.

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susan.mcneil@pattisonmedia.com

On BlueSky: @susanmcneil.bsky.social

by Susan McNeil

Indigenous company wants to see port to port corridor with Prince Albert as a hub

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