WINNIPEG — Winnipeg City council approved a $1 million grant to design Freedom Road which would provide year-round access to Shoal Lake 40 First Nation.
The city’s executive policy committee quickly voted in favour of the grant at a special meeting earlier on Wednesday morning. The report attached to the motion lays out a plan to share the cost of the designs equally between the provincial and federal governments.
READ MORE: First Nations Reserve one step closer to ‘Freedom Road’
Both the province and new federal government have pledged financial support to build the road.
The report also says some design and construction work has begun on the project.
The city had already set aside funds for the freedom road project but this decision earmarks that money for the technical design of the road and two bridges needed to complete the project.
As of now, Shoal Lake 40 can only be accessed by an ice road in the winter and by ferry in the summer.
The community was cut off decades ago in order to provide clean tap water for Winnipeg and has been under a boil water advisory for almost 20 years.
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