Manitoba puts up $4 million to protect Seal River watershed

Six years after a coalition of four northern Manitoba First Nations banded together to conserve the province’s last major undammed river, the Seal River watershed is “on the cusp” of permanent protection.

On Friday, the Seal River Watershed Alliance and the provincial and federal governments released a joint proposal to designate the 50,000-square-kilometre ecosystem — one of the world’s largest intact watersheds — as an Indigenous Protected and Conserved Area.

“This announcement is an absolutely historic moment in time where we have all different levels of government (and) … the nations coming together to preserve some of the most beautiful areas in the world,” Manitoba Environment Minister Mike Moyes said Friday.

“I am so proud to be part of a government that is moving forward on this historic agreement that is going to protect seven per cent of Manitoba.”

The proposal recommends creating a national park on the eastern third of the watershed and an Indigenous traditional-use provincial park on the western two-thirds.

To accommodate a new national park, the proposal recommends adjusting the boundaries of the three existing wilderness parks — Nueltin Lake, Caribou River and Sand Lakes — and transferring about 18,500 sq. km. of predominantly Crown land to the federal government.

The “mosaic” approach would allow for a variety of economic activities including tourism, recreation, and traditional harvesting practices, the proposal says.

A little under half of the national park would remain open for licensed hunting and outfitting for 10 years as a “transitional measure,” while hunting, outfitting “and the full range of outdoor activities that typically occur in Manitoba’s provincial parks would continue to be permitted in the new provincial park.”

Industrial activities such as mining, hydroelectric developments and forestry would be banned.

A joint management board elected by leadership from all parties would decide future land management decisions, the proposal says.

Alongside the proposal, the province announced a $4-million endowment contribution to support long-term operational funding of the project.

“We are celebrating major new investments in the Seal River watershed, we are sharing a proposal for protecting these lands and waters for all people, and we are breaking trail for what protected areas in the province can look like,” said Stephanie Thorassie, executive director of the alliance.

The alliance, made up of members from the Sayisi Dene, Northlands Denesuline, Barren Lands and O-Pipon-Na-Piwin Cree Nations, formed in 2019. By 2022, it had secured a commitment from provincial and federal governments to explore a protected area in the region.

It took two years — and a change of the provincial government — for the parties to sign a memorandum of understanding to conduct a feasibility study and temporarily ban mining in the region. The study, which was completed in early 2025, concluded that an Indigenous-led protected area was feasible and would derive ecological, cultural and economic benefits.

The watershed is wintering habitat for caribou and home to more than 30 species at risk, including polar bears, wolverines, belugas and lake sturgeon. The landscape itself stores 1.7 billion tonnes of carbon, equivalent to about eight years’ worth of total greenhouse gas emissions in Canada.

Tourism generates about $11 million in revenue per year, the feasibility study found, and the alliance has created about two dozen jobs.

“This is a practical, community-driven approach. It protects the land and supports opportunities for the future, from land-based education and sustainable tourism, to jobs that keep people rooted in their home,” said Rebecca Chartrand, the minister of northern affairs and member of Parliament for Churchill—Keewatinook Aski.

In late March, the federal government released its $3.8-billion nature protection strategy, which included a commitment of $74.7 million over 11 years and nearly $8 million in ongoing funding to support the Seal River protected area.

“The investments announced today will create more opportunities for these youth, opportunities to find jobs and stewardship and tourism, to gain knowledge and training and to feel pride in who they are and the work that they do,” Sayisi Dene Chief Kelly-Ann Thom-Duck said.

Manitobans have until June 2 to submit feedback on the plan through the province’s EngageMB portal, including the proposed boundary changes to provincial parks and the transfer of Crown land to the federal government for a national park.

Public feedback gathered through EngageMB will be shared with the alliance and Parks Canada to help inform what happens next.

julia-simone.rutgers@freepress.mb.ca