“Hope everyone in Winnipeg is enjoying their water today. People in Shoal Lake 40 not so much. Water is life and water can take life.” – Shoal Lake 40 First Nation policy analyst Cuyler Cotton
The Council of Canadians Winnipeg chapter has long supported the call for ‘Freedom Road’, an all-weather road that would connect the Shoal Lake 40 First Nation reserve with other communities after it was made an island a century ago when an aqueduct was built to carry drinking water to Winnipeg.
The chapter first visited Shoal Lake 40 in July 2014 and Council of Canadians chairperson Maude Barlow visited the community in April 2015.
In December 2015, the Trudeau government committed to cost-sharing a $30 million all-weather road for Shoal Lake 40. The NDP government of Manitoba and City of Winnipeg had already agreed to contribute $10 million each to the construction of this road, but the Harper government had refused to contribute to the project.
Then in December 2016, CBC reported, “The province of Manitoba, City of Winnipeg and federal government have reached a three-way funding agreement that could see construction of Shoal Lake 40’s Freedom Road begin in a matter of weeks. The federal government has agreed to pay up to $20 million toward the 24-kilometre road that would connect Shoal Lake 40 First Nation to the Trans-Canada Highway, while the province and city will each agreed to pay $10 million. The new agreement puts $10 million more toward the project than the agreement reached last year when the Manitoba NDP were in power.”
That article adds, “Manitoba’s Indigenous Relations Minister Eileen Clarke said construction will begin in a matter of weeks.”
But the road still has not been built.
Now, CBC reports, “A First Nation elder who had a terrifying ordeal after her van fell through thin ice on Shoal Lake, on a reserve that straddles the Manitoba-Ontario border, says her story speaks to the urgency for a permanent all-weather road in her community. Nancy Rice was driving on Shoal Lake on Friday in her van when she hit thin ice. Her vehicle got stuck and partially fell through the ice, leaving her trapped inside. Rice was with her 24-year-old grandson, who was in the passenger seat. She said her door wouldn’t open so she had to crawl through his side of the van and then step out onto the thin ice.”
The article highlights, “Rice, 65, said experiences like hers are the reason her community has lobbied the government so hard for what’s been dubbed Freedom Road.”
The Council of Canadians calls on all levels of government to expedite the construction of Freedom Road.
