Remote Manitoba First Nation gets funding for new bridges
Avery Zingel | for CBC News | Posted: February 21, 2015 12:55 AM | Last Updated: February 21, 2015
A new road development connecting First Nations communities in northern Manitoba could provide residents with lower food prices, better housing, and improved health care.
That was the message at a news conference held on Friday by Aboriginal Affairs Minister Eric Robinson to announce that the Bunibonibee First Nation has signed a community benefits agreement linked to road construction on the east side of Lake Winnipeg.
The new project involves building two bridges at Hayes River and Laidlaw River, valued at $5.7 million and $4.3 million dollars respectively, Robinson said.
The bridges are just one part of a larger plan to build and improve roads in the area, according to Chief Irvin Sinclair of Bunibonibee First Nation.
"It would be a lifeline for the three communities. It's not just for Oxford House, it's for God's Lake and Manto Sipi," Sinclair said.
Wider and safer roads would lower living costs for residents by reducing freight costs.
"Anything you use up there is twice, maybe three times the amount," Sinclair said.
The proposed road system would keep winter roads open longer and connect Bunibonibee First Nation, God's Lake First Nation and Manto Sipi to Norway House.
Robinson said without federal money, the roads could take up to 30 years to complete.
"We need the federal government to be partners with us," said Robinson.
Sinclair said the First Nation will go back to the table with the federal government to ask for additional funding.
The province's $10-million investment in the bridges is in addition to $269 million of funding to the East Side Road Authority.
The initiative has created 600 jobs and 270 training opportunities, and has delivered $86 million in benefits to the community, according to the province.
First Nation to talk to Ottawa
The road system would keep winter roads open longer. Connecting Bunibonibee First Nation, God's Lake First Nation and Manto Sipi to Norway House would improve their standards of living, Robinson said.
Sinclair said the First Nation will go back to the table with the federal government so that the road can progress faster.
"If we were to have the federal government more engaged in the all-weather road initiative, we would finish the project in half the time," he said.
"We're limited by a certain amount the provincial government has, but when is the federal government going to kick in and say, 'OK, let's start working on these First Nations that are remote?'"
Most problems in First Nations originate in the health of a community, Sinclair said.
With those improvements, Chief Irvin Sinclair hopes that the community can develop its other infrastructure such as wastewater and sewage systems.
"If the two governments come to play, I'll see it in my lifetime. If not, my grandchildren, I hope I leave them with a concrete, binding agreement that the road will be established whether we're dead and gone."