Feds OK Freedom Road… in principle

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This article was published 11/08/2015 (4037 days ago), so information in it may no longer be current.

It took a push from a rogue Tory MP, but the federal Conservatives have — sort of — agreed a highway to Shoal Lake 40 First Nation ought to be built, ending the band’s century of isolation.

Calling it “the right thing to do,” outgoing Conservative MP Joy Smith called on the Harper government Monday to build the highway, dubbed Freedom Road, and fund one-third of its cost. Moments after her news conference ended, Natural Resources Minister Greg Rickford, also the Conservative MP for Kenora, called to tell her he’d committed in principle to build the road once the design study is done.

“We support the construction of the Freedom Road in principle,” Rickford said in a statement released by Smith. “That is why we are funding the design of the Freedom Road.”

But, the commitment came without mention of federal funding. The city and province have each pledged to pay for a third of the $30-million highway. Attempts to get clarification from Rickford’s office Monday failed.

But Smith, Shoal Lake residents and supporters declared a kind of victory Monday. “It’s done,” said Smith.

Shoal Lake Chief Erwin Redsky couldn’t be reached due to a death in the family. Daryl Redsky, the band’s community consultant, said he’s hopeful but postponing any celebration until he sees something in writing.

“We’ve been waiting for a response from them for a while now. I think all the parties have been waiting. They’re the last piece of the puzzle for this situation we’re in,” he said. “We haven’t received anything in writing yet. Until we see something, as for myself personally, I’ll probably feel the effect of it.”

Rick Harp, organizer of a crowd-sourcing campaign to raise money for Freedom Road, agreed, saying “it’s better than nothing, but it isn’t something yet.”

“The challenge becomes how much weight to give to it,” said Harp. “The usual clichés apply: The devil’s in the details.”

Harp’s campaign, Shoal Lake 40: Road to Reconciliation, has so far seen roughly 800 people pledge a total of $83,000. The goal is $10 million, Ottawa’s share of the road-construction funding.

Harp said he wouldn’t stop the campaign because of Monday’s “in principle” announcement.

“I guess an agreement in principle sounds good in principle, but I’m looking forward to seeing an agreement in action and a road actually constructed,” he said.

On Monday, flanked by musician Steve Bell, one of the organizers of the Churches for Freedom Road awareness campaign, Smith described a trip she and Bell took last week to the picturesque First Nation near the Manitoba-Ontario border. She said she was moved by the plight of the First Nation and its isolation, which stymies economic development, makes it hard to cope with medical emergencies, forces children to attend school off the reserve and endangers residents who try to shortcut across the ice in winter.

Smith was the first Manitoba Conservative to publicly side with the isolated First Nation, which has been under a boil-water advisory for nearly 20 years, even though it’s the source of Winnipeg’s excellent drinking water. The 27-kilometre road, planned to connect to the Trans-Canada Highway, will help end Shoal Lake 40’s century-long status as an island. It will also allow the band to build a proper water-treatment plant.

“It is definitely the right thing to do,” said Smith.

Bell, who has helped create a coalition of local churches lobbying for Shoal Lake, said Rickford offered up the words Shoal Lake’s supporters were hoping to hear.

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“The fact that it took a public campaign to say what he claims to have supported all along leaves lots of room for skepticism,” said Bell. “But I’m willing to take him at his word and hold him to it.”

At an event at Shoal Lake in June, Rickford raised hackles when he would only reiterate a previously announced $1-million commitment for a design study. He refused to commit federal funds and, until now, the government would not even explicitly commit to Freedom Road “in principle.”

Smith’s move puts her at odds with the Conservative Party of Canada in the midst of a federal election and threatened to put pressure on other local Tories, including former Blue Bombers executive Jim Bell, to make their views on the issue known.

Smith announced her retirement from politics in January, leaving her Kildonan-St. Paul riding suddenly up for grabs. There, the Liberals and NDP are running strong campaigns against Bell, who is running for the Conservatives in Smith’s stead.

maryagnes.welch@freepress.mb.ca jessica.botelho-urbanski@freepress.mb.ca