Manitoba expecting designs of Interlake flood-relief channels to be completed later this year

Brittany Hobson · The Canadian Press

· Posted: Mar 21, 2025 7:41 PM EDT | Last Updated: 9 minutes ago

The Manitoba authorities expects caller designs of a long-promised flood prevention task volition beryllium completed aboriginal this twelvemonth aft the state asked the national authorities to intermission biology assessments to code concerns from section First Nations.

The Lake Manitoba and Lake St. Martin outlet channels task was featured heavy successful the NDP government's latest budget, released Thursday.

The spending program outlines the province's committedness of $809 cardinal for assorted infrastructure projects, including gathering the 2 channels.

"A important magnitude of that wealth is for the ongoing consultation work," Transportation Minister Lisa Naylor said successful an interrogation Friday.

The existent plan would person 2 ample outlet channels built to drain h2o from Lake Manitoba into Lake St. Martin and past into Lake Winnipeg. The caller plan could see alternatives that would code concerns from communities and the national government.

Nearby First Nations person agelong called for meaningful consultation connected the project, antecedently saying the erstwhile Progressive Conservative authorities failed to bash so. Communities person said accepted onshore and ineffable sites could beryllium affected.

The national authorities sided with First Nations past June. The Impact Assessment Agency has said the project's biology effects could beryllium addressed, but it would person a important interaction connected Indigenous onshore use.

The national curate said helium would notation the contented to furniture for a decision. The state asked to enactment a intermission connected that process to enactment with communities.

"With 40 antithetic communities affected, there's an tremendous magnitude of enactment that's been going connected to code their biology concerns, arsenic good arsenic concerns related to accepted onshore usage and ineffable sites," Naylor said.

Final designs are slated to beryllium completed by this spring, but First Nations person yet to motion off.

"Everybody wants to beryllium connected the aforesaid leafage erstwhile it comes to the channels," said Cornell McLean, seat of the Interlake Reserves Tribal Council and main of Lake Manitoba First Nation. "The Manitoba authorities seems sincere astir trying to enactment with us, but we haven't seen the fruits of that labour yet."

The Interlake chiefs and the state are successful the process of signing a memorandum of knowing that addresses immoderate concerns from the national authorities and communities.

Naylor wouldn't accidental what the papers mightiness include.

The task has been talked astir for much than a decade, pursuing terrible flooding successful 2011 that forced thousands of radical from their homes.

The erstwhile Progressive Conservative authorities promised successful 2016 to physique the task rapidly but butted heads for years with national regulators and adjacent First Nations who called for much consultation with the communities that would beryllium affected.

In 2022, a justice ruled the authorities did not consult decently earlier mounting up a close of mode connected Crown onshore for preparatory work, specified arsenic groundwater monitoring.

McLean says helium wasn't amazed to spot the task is apical of caput for the provincial government, but added it needs to travel done connected its committedness to enactment with communities.

"At this point, we're agreeable to helping … but they request to honour their agreements, too."

The state estimates that erstwhile approved, the task could instrumentality 3 to 4 years to complete.