Long Plain First Nation enjoyed a very productive year in 2016, despite the devastation caused by the tornado in July.

That's from Chief Dennis Meeches, who says they've done a lot of projects.

"Third year geo-thermal projects in Long Plain. Retro-fits on our homes outside of the tornado. A lot of housing development within our urban reserve in Portage, Keeshkeemaquah. And economic development, we have a lot of projects on the table right now. Our big one is the office complex in Winnipeg. It's a 75,000 square foot building, a $20,000,000 project."

Meeches notes job creation's also been active in 2016, pointing to job creation and economic opportunity efforts in Portage la Prairie and Winnipeg.

"Those are the urban reserves that are providing a strong revenue stream for Long Plain First Nation. And we hope Kapyong will be there some time soon. Kapyong, I believe, represents a huge windfall for the Treaty 1 bands, once we resolve that. It's been a long process, but we're at the point we're in the final stage of resolving, I think."