Crews work to clean up the basement of a home on Wednesday in Pimicikamak Cree Nation, where thousands have been forced to evacuate.JOHN WOODS/The Canadian Press
Ottawa is sending military troops to a remote First Nation in Northern Manitoba after a prolonged power outage has forced the evacuation of thousands of people and damaged hundreds of homes.
In a short letter posted on social media late Friday, Emergency Management Minister Eleanor Olszewski said the federal cabinet has agreed to deploy a specialized team from the Canadian Armed Forces to help Pimicikamak Cree Nation. She did not indicate an exact date for the team’s arrival.
Leaders from the community have been demanding such assistance for more than a week. This past Wednesday, Manitoba Premier Wab Kinew visited Pimicikamak along with federal leaders, promising resources and support, while seeking help from Ottawa.
Ms. Olszewski said the military will “provide targeted assessment and advisory support focused on water treatment and sewage systems, power generation, project management, and logistics.”
In late December, a power line running between two islands in the area, around 520 kilometres north of Winnipeg, broke suddenly, and caused a power outage. Manitoba Hydro managed to restore service a few days later, but it went out again because of extremely cold weather that froze and ruptured pipes.
At least 4,000 people from Pimicikamak have since been sent to cities such as Winnipeg and Thompson in Manitoba, as the community scrambled to clean and fix damage from the frozen pipes and leaking sewage.
At least 200 homes in Pimicikamak are considered unlivable, while around 1,100 others are still being assessed for damage. In some of the houses, black mould has grown, and at least five small fires have been sparked because of water seeping into electrical sockets.
The community of roughly 7,000 people is under a boil-water advisory, meaning tap water cannot be consumed as usual. Water to a school, arena and youth centre in the region has been shut off, with a health centre operating on a limited basis.
Ms. Olszewski said the federal government has already been assisting with evacuations, and provided generators, heaters, food and drinking water.
Her letter, co-signed with National Defence Minister David McGuinty, did not mention how many military members will be sent to Pimicikamak.
She also did not say whether the team will include plumbing assistance, as has been called for by Pimicikamak Chief David Monias.
Spokespeople for Ms. Olszewski and Mr. McGuinty’s departments provided The Globe and Mail with a written statement that slightly expanded on their public letter. But the brief statement did not address concerns about the timing of the military deployment, the size of the team or plumbing assistance.
Federal spokesperson Nick Drescher Brown said the armed forces will be deployed “as soon as is feasible.”
Speaking by phone, Mr. Monias said the damage is unlike anything he has ever seen. The handful of plumbers available to Pimicikamak have estimated that the repairs could take weeks if not months, he added.
“We’re doing our best, but we have to go one house at a time,” Mr. Monias said. “This military help cannot come fast enough. My people have been through hell.”
This past summer, harrowing wildfires encroaching either side of Pimicikamak had also forced the entire community to be evacuated. With Manitoba struggling to find available lodgings, hundreds of residents were sent in military planes, helicopters, ferries, buses and shuttles toward safe harbour, as far as more than 2,000 kilometres away to Niagara Falls, Ont.
“So many of the same folks who were forced in those planes to go to Niagara are now back at evacuation sites,” Mr. Monias said. “And all they want to do is be safe at their homes.”
Kyra Wilson, Grand Chief of the Assembly of Manitoba Chiefs, which represents 63 First Nations across the province, said this should have never happened. She visited the community with Mr. Kinew this week and said she saw “urgent failures” at every turn.
“Pimicikamak leaders are carrying an impossible load,” Ms. Wilson told The Globe on Friday. “There is aging infrastructure, delays in federal emergency transfers and the need for rapid approval of recovery funding. This deeply traumatic event is certainly not isolated.”