Fresh start for Sask. First Nation comes from the bones of a grain elevator – CBC
Nov 21, 2023
Using recycled grain elevator wood reduces carbon footprint in construction
The plot of land is near-empty, but standing on the November-frosted dirt and looking over it, Elaine Arlene Pelletier calls it home. And that’s what her community plans to build, board by board.
Pelletier is an elder from Lucky Man Cree Nation, a Saskatchewan nation that has formally held the land, located about 100 kilometres northwest of Saskatoon, for about 34 years.
There are few indications on the 3,100 hectares of land that it might be home to anyone: an aged community hall, a nearby trailer and a yellow “NO HUNTING NO TRESPASSING” sign.
Now they’ve been joined by what will soon be the community’s first house, its skeleton grafted from the bones of a recently dismantled grain elevator.
“To see these buildings here it’s emotional, because we’ve never had a home — a reserve — before,” Pelletier said. “Now this is our home.”
