Seven Canadian Armed Forces members have arrived in Pimicikamak Cree Nation to assess a water treatment plant knocked out for two weeks by a power outage that froze pipes and backed up sewage across the northern Manitoba community, where about 4,000 residents remain evacuated.
First job: the water plant
The chief of a Manitoba First Nation in the throes of severe water problems says seven members of the Canadian Armed Forces have now arrived to help.
Pimicikamak Cree Nation Chief David Monias said the military members on the ground will first be tasked with assessing one of the community’s water treatment plants, which has been out of commission for two weeks. The First Nation, about 530 kilometres north of Winnipeg, suffered a days-long power outage over the New Year period that led to frozen water systems, sewer backups, electrical issues and burst pipes in homes and public buildings across the community.
The arrival follows repeated calls from the chief for federal logistical and technical support. Ottawa approved the deployment on Jan. 9, and the advance team landed Monday to work alongside community leaders on a plan to repair the damage. Monias said another team from the Armed Forces is expected to arrive on Wednesday — and it did, with three more members joining the seven already in the community to continue assessing the water and sewage treatment plants and the community’s power problems.
Nowhere to stay in Thompson
About 4,000 residents are in other communities and have not been able to return, and even their temporary refuge is precarious. Monias said some 1,200 people staying in Thompson may be out of accommodations later this week because local hotel rooms are being used for a hockey tournament.
The scale of the repair bill is still coming into focus. Monias has said most of the more than 1,300 homes in the First Nation will require some form of repair after pipes froze and burst during the outage, and residents have described loneliness and trauma as the displacement stretches on with no firm date for going home. The chief has said he hopes to have everyone back before spring, but has set no firm timeline.
A short mission, a long recovery
The military’s role was always assessment and advice rather than reconstruction. On Jan. 23, the federal government announced the mission was complete, with all deployed Armed Forces members leaving by the end of that day. More than 1,300 homes had been damaged after the outage knocked out critical infrastructure, Ottawa said, and support for evacuees — accommodation, meals, health services and financial help — remained in place in Winnipeg, Thompson and Norway House until it is safe for people to return.
“We know this has been an incredibly difficult and exhausting time for all residents and families,” the joint statement from the defence, Indigenous services and emergency management ministers said. “We will continue to work alongside (Pimicikamak Cree Nation) and all partners, listening to the community and supporting recovery every step of the way, for as long as it takes.”
