Soham Srimani became Nahanni Butte's band manager in 2021. One of the first things he did after taking the job was survey the community's roughly 80 residents about the issues they considered most important. That led to the creation of a 15-item list of top "resident priorities" for the town.
Less than four years later, many of the goals on the list have been achieved, while several others are nearing completion.
Srimani refuses to take all the credit for the community's quick progress. In fact, he seems to want almost none of it. The "secret sauce" he said, is "working together collectively" with Chief Steve Vital, band council and the other members of the community.
"All of us are totally supportive of each other," he said. "We're all working together to achieve that common dream of ours, right? That's the way I look at it."
One of the priorities residents highlighted after Srimani came to Nahanni Butte was getting the community its own post office and postal code SA国际影视传媒� it had previously been sharing both with Fort Simpson. Both those things happened in 2022, and it created new full-time employment in the community in the process, Srimani noted. Another priority residents highlighted was the construction of a new community arbour. That project was successfully completed in 2023, and paid for exclusively through federal CanNor funding. The local general store and bed and breakfast were both in need of expansion, residents said in 2021, and as of this year, both have received the necessary upgrades. The community also got a greenhouse to address a shortage of high-quality produce SA国际影视传媒� another item of concern on the 2021 list.
Srimani and his colleagues have had many breakthroughs in recent years. Arguably the biggest of those concerns housing.
Following the survey of local residents, the new band manager and his team determined that the community needed 21 new housing units by 2026. It was a tall order, particularly for a community that is isolated for roughly two-and-a-half months each year between the ferry and ice road seasons, but as 2025 approaches, the goal is within reach.
In 2022, Nahanni Butte received funding for a new four-plex through Housing NWT. Later, the Canada Mortgage and Housing Corporation provided funding for seven more houses. That was followed by funding for another six houses from National Indigenous Collaborative Housing Incorporated.
"Twenty-one houses was the need, and we are almost solving [the problem]," Srimani said. "Four plus seven plus six is 17 houses.
"The housing situation was so bad," he added. "There are multiple avenues we found funding through."
At one time, the housing situation in Nahanni Butte was bleak enough that some residents were leaving SA国际影视传媒� particularly young people. Srimani is thrilled to see a few have returned, and hopes they will enjoy other new additions like the community's freshly-constructed performance stage, and its new fitness centre, which is slated for completion next year.
""[It will be] a 1,500 or 1,600-square-foot facility for people to focus into their fitness," Srimani said of the new fitness centre, which will be located in a pair of renovated trailers donated by Parks Canada. "This will keep people out of their addictions and bad habits. People will really be able to focus on healthy living and exercise and everything. It's a very good thing SA国际影视传媒� especially for the youth members."
Having made so much headway in recent years, Srimani is glad he had the foresight to start his tenure as band manager with a survey of residents' concerns. However, he once again attributed the community's progress to the "really good team" of people helping him.
Continued teamwork will surely be important as Nahanni Butte works to tackle the issue residents deemed the second-highest concern back in 2021: the creation of an all-season bridge across the Liard River that would keep the community connected to the rest of the world year-round.
For Srimani, the bridge project has evolved into the "number one strategic priority" SA国际影视传媒� along with housing SA国际影视传媒� and he is confident it can be done. He and is colleagues recently completed a "bridge feasibility study" and are now communicating with various federal government departments "to see how this project will unfold over time."
"We spend a lot of money just because we don't have a bridge, on freight and other costs," he said. "The bridge is a project that will be a game-changer for the community."
