Lac Seul looking to host conferences

Lac Seul is looking to host conferences such as the recent Grand Council Treaty #3 Chiefs Fall Assembly at the brand new Lac Seul Events Centre.
“We’re trying to compete with the existing facilities in Sioux Lookout,” said Grace Strang, Lac Seul’s finance manager. “We try to be a full service facility by having meeting rooms and state-of-the-art technology.”
Strang said the centre has a large conference room with two breakout rooms, comfortable chairs and seating and in-house catering.
“I think it’s exactly what organizations are looking for when they want to host a bigger meeting,” Strang said. “Our facility is brand new — the conference rooms are designed for conferences. We have a full-service kitchen that can do all the catering.”
Strang said the kitchen has become a popular lunch stop for community members since it opened.
“It was pretty slow to start with but we are very busy now,” said Doreen Gordon, operator of the kitchen. “And we are just getting busier every day.”
Gordon said the workday at the kitchen usually begins early in the morning, with the kitchen open from 8 a.m. to 7 p.m. on Monday to Friday. Whenever there are hockey tournaments in the arena, the kitchen is usually open from 8 a.m. to 9-10 p.m. on Saturdays depending on how long the games run.
“Today we started at 6 a.m.,” Gordon said on the last day of the Treaty #3 Chiefs Fall Assembly. “For the past three days we’ve been here at 6 a.m. because we’ve been catering breakfast and lunch. We catered for about 120 people over the past three days.”
Gordon also operates the small store located across the event centre lobby from the kitchen.
“It’s a lot of work, long hours, but it’s rewarding,” Gordon said. “Normally there’s three (staff) in the kitchen.”
Lac Seul Chief Clifford Bull has been “very pleased” with the success of the event centre since it opened this past April.
“Our (kitchen) has been doing a lot of catering and food orders,” Bull said. “We’re very proud of what we’ve done for the community. It’s a place where people meet. There’s snacks, drinks, you can have breakfast, lunch and supper here. It’s a full-service conference centre and event centre.”
Bull said the youth are also excited about being able to play hockey in the NHL-sized arena.
“We’ve also started a minor hockey league with about 80 youth participating now,” Bull said.
“We even had a NorWossa high school hockey exhibition tournament here over the weekend (with teams from Dryden, Red Lake, Fort Frances and Sioux Lookout).”
Bull said a Superior International Junior Hockey League game featuring the Dryden Ice Dogs and the English River Miners is scheduled for Nov. 27 at the arena.
“We have two youth (from Lac Seul) who are players on each team,” Bull said.
Strang said students from the neighbouring Obishikokaang Elementary School have also been using the arena on Fridays.
“That was something they could never do before,” Strang said. “We’ve had outdoor rinks in the community, however there are limited resources to keep the rinks in a condition that would allow the students to skate all the time.”
Strang said the minor hockey league was initiated by a group of parents in the community.
“We are recognized by HNO (Hockey Northwestern Ontario), which is the governing body that governs minor hockey in our area,” Strang said. “We’re still trying to market our arena to different user groups, but right now our minor hockey teams are probably using it Monday to Thursday as well as Saturday.”
Strang said the community is now considering the development of a 30,000 square-foot office complex.
“Two of the largest organizations in (Sioux Lookout) have approached Lac Seul saying if there were office spaces available here, they would be willing to relocate their office spaces here.”