Shoal Lake 40 First Nation has filed a lawsuit against the City of Winnipeg and the federal government.
In a news release, the First Nation says it’s seeking compensation for the devastating impacts of Winnipeg’s aqueduct — created to transport clean drinking water from the lake to the residents of Winnipeg, while leaving the Shoal Lake 40 community isolated and without road access to the mainland for more than century.
The community is located in Ontario, just east of the border with Manitoba.
“For generations, our community members had to make dangerous crossing over water and ice just to do basic things like go to high school or to work,” Chief Kevin Redsky said. “We shouldn’t have had to risk our survival just so Winnipeg could divert water.”
The aqueduct, built in 1915, left the community accessible only by ice road in the winter or boat in the summer. Freedom road, spanning 24-kilometres, was built in 2019 to connect Shoal Lake 40 to the Trans-Canada Highway, but the First Nation says it struggled with transporting goods and maintaining essential services for decades prior.
Those services include the community’s water treatment system, which was finally able to be upgraded in 2021 after a 24-year boil water order — despite Winnipeg drawing its drinking water from the First Nation’s “doorstep.” Before then, it was the second-longest boil water advisory in Canadian history.
“Our people have done what we must to survive,” Redsky said in the release. “We’ve had to fight long and hard for the essentials of safe access and clean drinking water.
“We’ve put our survival needs first and now we’re in a position to seek justice and equity for the harm that was inflicted on our community for so many years.”
There’s no indication as to how much money the First Nation is asking for from either the municipal or federal government. Aside from monetary compensation, in the hopes of getting governments to rectify the isolation felt by the community, Shoal Lake 40 is also asking for the following:
- A declaration that Canada breached its duties to the First Nation by failing to protect its interests in respect of an expropriation order, as well as failing to ensure the community was compensation for “injurious affection and interference.”
- A declaration that the city of Winnipeg and its water district breached obligations to compensate the First Nation for “injurious affection and interference.
The lawyer representing the First Nation, Kate Gunn, says this case is a significant example of governments failing Indigenous people.
“I think Shoal Lake 40 has always stood out as an example, as one of the longest and most egregious examples of it,” said Gunn. “What we’d like to see is a measure for what has happened and then finding a better way forward.”
Redsky told 680 CJOB’s The Jim Toth Show the focus at the moment is on seeking justice.
“It was just filed yesterday, so it’s going to be a process in itself. It’s not up to me to determine where the conversations are going to lead… there’s people that will work with those numbers. I’m not in a position to say so right now.”
As for Winnipeg, mayor Scott Gillingham said that Redsky had let him know in advance about legal action. This, he noted, made sure that the lawsuit didn’t come as a complete surprise.
“I did appreciate the heads up from him,” said Gillingham.
Global News has reached out to the office of the Minister of Crown-Indigenous Relations for a comment.
— With files from Global’s Iris Dyck
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