Canada’s Emergency Management Minister Eleanor Olszewski says Ottawa is sending a “specialized team” to aid a Manitoba First Nation after days of power outages have led to the evacuation of thousands and damage to hundreds of homes.
The Pimicikamak Cree Nation is located about 530 kilometres north of Winnipeg and has a population of around 7,000 people. Around 4,000 of its residents have been evacuated out of the community over the past several weeks, since a four-day power outage several weeks ago followed by burst pipes led to hundreds of homes becoming uninhabitable.
“Today, Minister McGuinty and I approved the deployment of a specialized team from the Canadian Armed Forces (CAF) to Pimicikamak Cree Nation to provide targeted assessment and advisory support focused on water treatment and sewage systems, power generation, project management, and logistics,” Olszewski wrote in a Jan. 9 statement, noting that the deployment was approved in conjunction with Minister of National Defence David McGuinty.
“This decision was made in response to requests from Pimicikamak Cree Nation and the Province of Manitoba, and followed ongoing discussions with partners.”
Manitoba Premier Wab Kinew said several days earlier that Manitoba is assisting Pimicikamak in any way possible and will work with Ottawa in order to support the rebuilding of the community, which also had to evacuate in the spring of last year due to wildfires.
“We’re here to help: we’ve provided resources, support, have asked Hydro to look at the transmission line and we’ve asked the Canadian Armed Forces help so people can get home,” Kinew wrote Jan. 7 on X.
The move from Ottawa comes after Pimicikamak Chief David Monias said his community needs help from the military as well as any tradespeople who can assist in getting power, water, and sewage systems restored.
Minister of Indigenous Services Mandy Gull-Masty previously announced Jan. 7 that Ottawa was working in a broad “cross-government response” to help Pimicikamak residents who had remained in the town and those who had left. She noted that a technical team from Indigenous Services Canada and Public Safety assessed the damage on Jan. 7 and have been in regular communication with Monias to determine the best path forward to assist the community.
No additional details were provided by Olszewski on Jan. 9 as to how many CAF members would be sent or the extent of damage to homes and infrastructure in Pimicikamak.
“The Government of Canada remains committed to supporting repairs and the safe return of residents to their homes, schools, and essential services as quickly as possible,” Olszewski wrote in her Jan. 9 statement.
The Canadian Press contributed to this report.
