{"id":106254,"date":"2026-06-25T14:15:17","date_gmt":"2026-06-25T18:15:17","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/theturtleislandnews.com\/?p=106254"},"modified":"2026-06-25T14:15:17","modified_gmt":"2026-06-25T18:15:17","slug":"miraculous-watay-completes-electrification-of-16-first-nations","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/theturtleislandnews.com\/index.php\/2026\/06\/25\/miraculous-watay-completes-electrification-of-16-first-nations\/","title":{"rendered":"&#8216;Miraculous&#8217;: Watay completes electrification of 16 First Nations"},"content":{"rendered":"<p>By Maya Ekman, Local Journalism Initiative Reporter, NWOnewswatch.com MUSKRAT DAM \u2013 After more than 20 years and 1,800 kilometres of transmission lines, the work to connect 16 northern First Nations to the power grid is officially complete. \u201cThis is not vacant land, this is our land,\u201d said Muskrat Dam First Nation Chief Carla Duncan. On Tuesday, the Muskrat Dam celebrated their connection to the provincial power grid through Wataynikaneyap (Watay) Power and said goodbye to the constant upkeep of its diesel generator station. Watay Power, which is owned in majority by 24 First Nations, has experienced many challenges since the project began said CEO Margaret Kenequanash. \u201cCovid, forest fires, in the timeline that we were able to accomplish this project, I think it\u2019s a miraculous project.\u201d Muskrat Dam is the&#8230; <\/p>\n<div class=\"pmpro\">\n<div class=\"pmpro_card pmpro_content_message\">\n<div class=\"pmpro_card_content\">This content is for Yearly Subscription, Yearly Subscription &#8211; Corporate, Print Subscription Only, Canada Print and Online, and USA Print and Online members only.<br \/><a href=\"http:\/\/theturtleislandnews.com\/wp-login.php?action=register\">Register<\/a><\/div>\n<div class=\"pmpro_card_actions pmpro_font-medium\">Already a member? <a href=\"https:\/\/theturtleislandnews.com\/wp-login.php?redirect_to=https%3A%2F%2Ftheturtleislandnews.com%2Findex.php%2F2026%2F06%2F25%2Fmiraculous-watay-completes-electrification-of-16-first-nations%2F\">Log in here<\/a><\/div>\n<\/div>\n<\/div>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"<p>By Maya Ekman, Local Journalism Initiative Reporter, NWOnewswatch.com MUSKRAT DAM \u2013 After more than 20 years and 1,800 kilometres of transmission lines, the work to connect 16 northern First Nations to the power grid is officially complete. \u201cThis is not vacant land, this is our land,\u201d said Muskrat Dam First Nation Chief Carla Duncan. On Tuesday, the Muskrat Dam celebrated their connection to the provincial power grid through Wataynikaneyap (Watay) Power and said goodbye to the constant upkeep of its diesel generator station. Watay Power, which is owned in majority by 24 First Nations, has experienced many challenges since the project began said CEO Margaret Kenequanash. \u201cCovid, forest fires, in the timeline that we were able to accomplish this project, I think it\u2019s a miraculous project.\u201d Muskrat Dam is the... <\/p>\n<div class=\"pmpro\"><div class=\"pmpro_card pmpro_content_message\"><div class=\"pmpro_card_content\">This content is for Yearly Subscription, Yearly Subscription - Corporate, Print Subscription Only, Canada Print and Online, and USA Print and Online members only.<br \/><a href=\"http:\/\/theturtleislandnews.com\/wp-login.php?action=register\">Register<\/a><\/div><div class=\"pmpro_card_actions pmpro_font-medium\">Already a member? <a href=\"https:\/\/theturtleislandnews.com\/wp-login.php?redirect_to=https%3A%2F%2Ftheturtleislandnews.com%2Findex.php%2F2026%2F06%2F25%2Fmiraculous-watay-completes-electrification-of-16-first-nations%2F\">Log in here<\/a><\/div><\/div><\/div>","protected":false},"author":101363,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"pmpro_default_level":"","footnotes":""},"categories":[8,13],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-106254","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","hentry","category-national-news","category-ticker","pmpro-level-required","pmpro-level-3","pmpro-level-2","pmpro-level-5","pmpro-level-4","pmpro-level-6","pmpro-level-7","pmpro-level-8","pmpro-no-access"],"yoast_head":"<!-- This site is optimized with the Yoast SEO plugin v27.9 - https:\/\/yoast.com\/product\/yoast-seo-wordpress\/ -->\n<title>&#039;Miraculous&#039;: Watay completes electrification of 16 First Nations - The Turtle Island News<\/title>\n<meta name=\"robots\" content=\"index, follow, max-snippet:-1, max-image-preview:large, max-video-preview:-1\" \/>\n<link rel=\"canonical\" href=\"https:\/\/theturtleislandnews.com\/index.php\/2026\/06\/25\/miraculous-watay-completes-electrification-of-16-first-nations\/\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:locale\" content=\"en_US\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:type\" content=\"article\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:title\" content=\"&#039;Miraculous&#039;: Watay completes electrification of 16 First Nations - The Turtle Island News\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:description\" content=\"By Maya Ekman, Local Journalism Initiative Reporter, NWOnewswatch.com MUSKRAT DAM \u2013 After more than 20 years and 1,800 kilometres of transmission lines, the work to connect 16 northern First Nations to the power grid is officially complete. \u201cThis is not vacant land, this is our land,\u201d said Muskrat Dam First Nation Chief Carla Duncan. On Tuesday, the Muskrat Dam celebrated their connection to the provincial power grid through Wataynikaneyap (Watay) Power and said goodbye to the constant upkeep of its diesel generator station. Watay Power, which is owned in majority by 24 First Nations, has experienced many challenges since the project began said CEO Margaret Kenequanash. \u201cCovid, forest fires, in the timeline that we were able to accomplish this project, I think it\u2019s a miraculous project.\u201d Muskrat Dam is the\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:url\" content=\"https:\/\/theturtleislandnews.com\/index.php\/2026\/06\/25\/miraculous-watay-completes-electrification-of-16-first-nations\/\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:site_name\" content=\"The Turtle Island News\" \/>\n<meta property=\"article:publisher\" content=\"https:\/\/www.facebook.com\/TurtleIslandNews\/\" \/>\n<meta property=\"article:published_time\" content=\"2026-06-25T18:15:17+00:00\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:image\" content=\"https:\/\/theturtleislandnews.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2016\/01\/facebooklogo.jpg\" \/>\n\t<meta property=\"og:image:width\" content=\"725\" \/>\n\t<meta property=\"og:image:height\" content=\"483\" \/>\n\t<meta property=\"og:image:type\" content=\"image\/jpeg\" \/>\n<meta name=\"author\" content=\"Lynda Powless\" \/>\n<meta name=\"twitter:card\" content=\"summary_large_image\" \/>\n<meta name=\"twitter:creator\" content=\"@newsattheturtle\" \/>\n<meta name=\"twitter:site\" content=\"@newsattheturtle\" \/>\n<meta name=\"twitter:label1\" content=\"Written by\" \/>\n\t<meta name=\"twitter:data1\" content=\"Lynda Powless\" \/>\n\t<meta name=\"twitter:label2\" content=\"Est. reading time\" \/>\n\t<meta name=\"twitter:data2\" content=\"3 minutes\" \/>\n<script type=\"application\/ld+json\" class=\"yoast-schema-graph\">{\"@context\":\"https:\\\/\\\/schema.org\",\"@graph\":[{\"@type\":\"Article\",\"@id\":\"https:\\\/\\\/theturtleislandnews.com\\\/index.php\\\/2026\\\/06\\\/25\\\/miraculous-watay-completes-electrification-of-16-first-nations\\\/#article\",\"isPartOf\":{\"@id\":\"https:\\\/\\\/theturtleislandnews.com\\\/index.php\\\/2026\\\/06\\\/25\\\/miraculous-watay-completes-electrification-of-16-first-nations\\\/\"},\"author\":{\"name\":\"Lynda Powless\",\"@id\":\"https:\\\/\\\/theturtleislandnews.com\\\/#\\\/schema\\\/person\\\/7b188fd7503577895ef8b306988cd458\"},\"headline\":\"&#8216;Miraculous&#8217;: Watay completes electrification of 16 First Nations\",\"datePublished\":\"2026-06-25T18:15:17+00:00\",\"mainEntityOfPage\":{\"@id\":\"https:\\\/\\\/theturtleislandnews.com\\\/index.php\\\/2026\\\/06\\\/25\\\/miraculous-watay-completes-electrification-of-16-first-nations\\\/\"},\"wordCount\":649,\"publisher\":{\"@id\":\"https:\\\/\\\/theturtleislandnews.com\\\/#organization\"},\"articleSection\":[\"National News\",\"ticker\"],\"inLanguage\":\"en-CA\"},{\"@type\":\"WebPage\",\"@id\":\"https:\\\/\\\/theturtleislandnews.com\\\/index.php\\\/2026\\\/06\\\/25\\\/miraculous-watay-completes-electrification-of-16-first-nations\\\/\",\"url\":\"https:\\\/\\\/theturtleislandnews.com\\\/index.php\\\/2026\\\/06\\\/25\\\/miraculous-watay-completes-electrification-of-16-first-nations\\\/\",\"name\":\"'Miraculous': Watay completes electrification of 16 First Nations - 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