Flood victims suffer as multi-million dollar project made priority

The decision by Canada and Manitoba to fund infrastructure on Lake Manitoba while nearly 2,000 First Nations members remain homeless has First Nations leaders questioning government priorities.

“Clearly the idea of making a splashy announcement on half-a-billion dollars for the benefit of Manitoba Conservatives is problematic considering the tragedy that we’ve experience for our communities has been nothing short of devastating,” said Assembly of Manitoba Grand Chief Derek Nepinak.

Premier Greg Selinger and Portage-Lisgar MP Candice Bergen announced a $495-million plan, which calls for a second outlet channel from Lake Manitoba to Lake St. Martin to be constructed and for the current one to be enlarged. The province will cover $330 million with the federal government picking up the remainder.

“(The governments) have to prioritize peoples’ lives. They have to prioritize the living conditions of those people… They’ve got to prioritize this before they move on to other developments,” said Assembly of First Nations National Chief Perry Bellegarde.

While reserve land is federal jurisdiction, Nepinak said the province needs to be held accountable for its decision to divert the water.

The province constructed the original†emergency channel after a flood in 2011. It diverted water from the Assiniboine River through the Portage Diversion into Lake Manitoba. This increase in the water level flooded out communities on Lake Manitoba. From here the water went to Fairford Dam and overran the banks on the way to Lake St. Martin. The rise in water wiped out the Lake St. Martin First Nation. Also impacted significantly were members of the Little Saskatchewan, Dauphin River and Pinaymootang First Nations, many of whom, four years later still remain off their land, living out of hotels in Winnipeg.

But it’s not only about losing Treaty 2 land in the Interlake region, said Nepinak.

“We’ve lost over 70 people (died) just from one community in the dislocation that resulted from the flooding and the evacuation,” he said.

“It’s four years now. Four years. That’s just not acceptable for this issue to languish and be put on the side,” said Bellegarde.

Negotiations are occurring with the four First Nations, but details have not been shared with either community members or First Nation leadership, such as himself, said Nepinak, who views secret negotiations as a government tactic.

“The more the governments can control the scope of the discussion by way of keeping small groups at the table, I think they can get results more and more in favour of what they want to promote and achieve going forward,” he said.

Nepinak notes that the Assembly of Manitoba Chiefs tried to create an environment for collective bargaining that would include solutions, compensation, and rebuilding of communities. Their attempts to facilitate discussion, hire mediators and meet at neutral locations were rebuffed.

“These are treaty lands that were devastated. These are treaty people that are impacted and the nature of the negotiations towards settlement should be based in treaty principles. And it hasn’t been. It’s been secretive. It’s been exclusive of community members and it’s frustrated a lot of people,” he said.

Nepinak points out that there are more than four First Nations impacted. Close to 20, he says, used their own limited resources to cover the costs of flood mitigation and have still received no payments. He says he has been told by these bands that the federal government is not responding to their requests for reimbursement. He holds that the Interlake communities are owed $8 million.

While those negotiations have yet to be solidified, said Nepinak, Canada and Manitoba have announced a capital project that has not received input from the First Nations.

“They’re now trying to put this channel through and we have to come forward to continue to push a treaty-based solution,” said Nepinak.

Manitoba Aboriginal Affairs Minister Eric Robinson told CBC News that the province will consult with First Nations on the flood diversion projects.

“The first thing that we had to do was identify the federal and provincial dollars. They were matching and we did that, and now the consultation phase has to commence,” he said.