Excitement in remote Manitoba community as 1st restaurant opens

Wasagamack First Nation, a remote community in Manitoba, now has a restaurant thanks to a partnership between chief and council and a retired restaurant owner.

Jeremiah's Korner Kafe is a dine-in restaurant with online ordering available for take-out.

Brett Mason from Wasagamack, about 470 kilometres north of Winnipeg, is a cook at Jeremiah's Korner Kafe and has lived in the community for the majority of his life.

He said he never saw himself being able to work in a restaurant without having to move to the city.

"This is the first time we've had a legit restaurant," he said.

"A lot of people were excited and asking me when it was going to open; it's pretty exciting to have that finally."

Lori Lucas, an Ojibway woman from Ebb and Flow First Nation, is helping set up the restaurant for the next four to six months. During that time she said she will train a restaurant manager and potentially an assistant manager.

Lucas said in terms of convenience for food and a place for people to gather, things are different in Wasagamack than they are in urban settings.

"We're so used to a culture in Winnipeg where we have a restaurant or café where we can go meet up with our friends, have supper, have coffee and enjoy each other's company," she said.

"They don't have that here and to a community that doesn't have that opportunity, it really affects mental health, physical health, being alone all the time. By opening this and having people come in and be able to enjoy each other's company, that's going to bring some big changes."

Supplies by helicopter

Lucas said there are plans to have 20 total employees at the restaurant, all of them from local communities.

"The crew I have right now, we're calling them 'The OGs,' they are so eager to learn, they are so so hard working," she said.

"When I do leave, they're going to have an incredible team up there."

The community doesn't have an all-season road to the south or an airport; supplies have to be transported by winter road or ferried from other communities on Island Lake that have airports. 

Lucas said the first delivery for the restaurant was a memorable sight, via helicopter from St. Theresa Point.

"They put down a huge net, they put the supplies in and the helicopter lifts it up, brings it to our island, and they bring it down until it's on the ground and they unhook the net," she said.

"The wind capacity on the helicopter almost knocked me down. It took us three locals to do that and I've never experienced anything like that. For them it was just another day. For me it was like 'wow,' the world needs to see what it's like in a northern town."

Mason said he hopes to see more things like restaurants available in the community in the future but said that's harder to expect because of the lack of an airport. Mason said getting an airport would be life-changing.

"We wouldn't have to worry about helicopter slings or anything," he said.

"It would make a lot of things easier."

Mason said he and his co-workers get along well and are excited to be part of something new.

"We're put into a setting where we all have to rely on each other," he said.

"We're all just looking for something fresh and this has been pretty refreshing."