Xatśūll First Nation has announced a new three point eight million dollar project that will go towards developing a gas station, convenience store, quick-serve restaurant and a seasonal museum.
The renovations and expansion of the emporium, which is located around 30 km north of Williams Lake on Highway 97, will begin on May 2nd this year. The project is expected to take around a year to complete, if there are no delays.
“It’s in such a new growth stage right now, like just coming to life.” says Chief of Xatśūll First Nation, Sheri Sellars.
“We as council have just authorized the movement of that forward, so there’s a lot of preliminary that need to be done before we get to full development.”
The site was originally developed in 1970 and previously served as a gas station and restaurant. Recently however, its been used by Xatśūll as a training centre for culinary arts, trail builders and other functions.
Xatśūll will also be adding electric charging stations for those who’ve made the switch from gas or diesel. For the gas station, Xatśūll is partnering with Petro-Canada.
The project is expected to bring a minimum of nine full-time jobs and seven part-time jobs.
In the short term, a Residential Building Maintenance Worker Trader Sampler Program will be offering a variety of training to eight Indigenous people, such as drywall, plumbing, electrical, carpentry and more.
The program will go from May 2nd to July 22nd of this year.
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