Village of Kitcisakik finally connected to Hydro-Québec’s electricity grid

FILE: Former minister Pierre Fitzgibbon, Kitcisakik Chief Régis Pensway, Minister Ian Lafrenière, and Régis Tellier of Hydro-Québec inaugurated the first of 2,000 utility poles to electrify Kitcisakik. (François-Olivier Dénommé | Noovo Info)

The Anicinape community of Kitcisakik, just south of Val d’Or in Abitibi-Temiscamingue, is now connected to Hydro-Québec’s power grid.

This milestone will radically change the lives of the Algonquin people of Kitcisakik, who until now had to heat their homes with wood or generators.

A total of 70 km of power lines, 2,000 poles, and home renovations were required to ensure a safe connection. The total cost of the work is estimated at just under $28 million, which is less than the revised estimate of $32 million.

The project to electrify the Indigenous village of some 300 people was announced with great fanfare in May 2022.

Kitcisakik is located on Highway 117, less than 100 kilometres from the city of Val-d’Or.

The community will soon have electricity -- but still no running water. The people of Kitcisakik must collect their water from the village pumping station.

- With a report from Noovo Info’s Marie-Claude Paradis-Desfossés