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Living in isolation

Shoal Lake gives Winnipeg water, but band must endure consequences

By: Mary Agnes Welch
Posted: 3:09 AM CDT Thursday, Jul. 10, 2014

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Young residents of Shoal Lake 40 First Nation gather on the main dock to their man-made island to fish Wednesday during a special event marking the 100th anniversary for the flooding of their land to provide water for the City of Winnipeg.  (Ruth Bonneville / Winnipeg Free Press)
Shoal Lake flood: 100 years later
Photos by: Ruth Bonneville / Winnipeg Free Press
Residents of Shoal Lake 40 First Nation take part in event marking the 100th anniversary for the flooding of their land to provide water for the City of Winnipeg. The flood disconnected them from the mainland except in the winter, when the temporary bridge they are on connects them via a winter road.  (Ruth Bonneville / Winnipeg Free Press)
Residents call the winter road Freedom Road, even though it was never finished.  (Ruth Bonneville / Winnipeg Free Press)
Residents of Shoal Lake 40 First Nation participate in a special ceremony held Wednesday to mark the 100th anniversary of the flooding of their land to provide water for the City of Winnipeg.   (Ruth Bonneville / Winnipeg Free Press)
Children play on a set of swings near the docks of Shoal Lake 40 First Nation Wednesday just before government officials and dignitaries arrive on their man-made island to mark the 100th anniversary for the flooding of their land to provide water for the City of Winnipeg.    (Ruth Bonneville / Winnipeg Free Press)
This aqueduct on Shoal Lake provides the water supply for the city of Winnipeg. Shoal Lake 40 First Nation had to be flooded for the duct to be built 100 years ago. The flooding has disconnected the community from the mainland ever since, except for a barge that runs in the summer and a bridge on a winter road.  (Ruth Bonneville / Winnipeg Free Press)
Linda Redsky, a resident of Shoal Lake 40 First Nation, looks into the clear water at the edge of her home where she went through the ice and almost drowned while fetching water in the winter. The community held  an event Wednesday marking the 100th anniversary of the flooding of their land to provide water for the City of Winnipeg.   (Ruth Bonneville / Winnipeg Free Press)
Residents of Shoal Lake 40 First Nation take part in event marking the 100th anniversary of the flooding of their land to provide water for the City of Winnipeg.   (Ruth Bonneville / Winnipeg Free Press)
The flood disconnected Shoal Lake residents from the mainland except in the winter when the temporary bridge they are on connects them via a winter road.    (Ruth Bonneville / Winnipeg Free Press)
A barge leaves the dock at Shoal Lake 39 First Nation and heads across Shoal Lake to Shoal Lake 40 First Nation, a community that was separated from the mainland after land was flooded to create an aqueduct for City of Winnipeg's water supply 100 years ago.   (Ruth Bonneville / Winnipeg Free Press)
A fishing boat arrives at the docks of Shoal Lake 40 First Nation Wednesday, bringing government officials and dignitaries to a man-made island for the 100th anniversary event. (Ruth Bonneville / Winnipeg Free Press)
Eight-year-old Kyra Wahpay stands on a mound of dirt cleared to make way for a permanent bridge to cross the canal that separates Shoal Lake  40 First Nation from the mainland. The bridge in the background is a temporary bridge that is used in the winter to connect to a winter road, the only time of the year that residents are connected to the mainland.   (Ruth Bonneville / Winnipeg Free Press)
Young residents of Shoal Lake 40 First Nation gather on the main dock to their man-made island to fish Wednesday during a special event marking the 100th anniversary for the flooding of their land to provide water for the City of Winnipeg. - (Ruth Bonneville / Winnipeg Free Press)
Residents of Shoal Lake 40 First Nation take part in event marking the 100th anniversary for the flooding of their land to provide water for the City of Winnipeg. The flood disconnected them from the mainland except in the winter, when the temporary bridge they are on connects them via a winter road. - (Ruth Bonneville / Winnipeg Free Press)
Residents call the winter road Freedom Road, even though it was never finished. - (Ruth Bonneville / Winnipeg Free Press)
Residents of Shoal Lake 40 First Nation participate in a special ceremony held Wednesday to mark the 100th anniversary of the flooding of their land to provide water for the City of Winnipeg. - (Ruth Bonneville / Winnipeg Free Press)
Children play on a set of swings near the docks of Shoal Lake 40 First Nation Wednesday just before government officials and dignitaries arrive on their man-made island to mark the 100th anniversary for the flooding of their land to provide water for the City of Winnipeg. - (Ruth Bonneville / Winnipeg Free Press)
This aqueduct on Shoal Lake provides the water supply for the city of Winnipeg. Shoal Lake 40 First Nation had to be flooded for the duct to be built 100 years ago. The flooding has disconnected the community from the mainland ever since, except for a barge that runs in the summer and a bridge on a winter road. - (Ruth Bonneville / Winnipeg Free Press)
Linda Redsky, a resident of Shoal Lake 40 First Nation, looks into the clear water at the edge of her home where she went through the ice and almost drowned while fetching water in the winter. The community held an event Wednesday marking the 100th anniversary of the flooding of their land to provide water for the City of Winnipeg. - (Ruth Bonneville / Winnipeg Free Press)
Residents of Shoal Lake 40 First Nation take part in event marking the 100th anniversary of the flooding of their land to provide water for the City of Winnipeg. - (Ruth Bonneville / Winnipeg Free Press)
The flood disconnected Shoal Lake residents from the mainland except in the winter when the temporary bridge they are on connects them via a winter road. - (Ruth Bonneville / Winnipeg Free Press)
A barge leaves the dock at Shoal Lake 39 First Nation and heads across Shoal Lake to Shoal Lake 40 First Nation, a community that was separated from the mainland after land was flooded to create an aqueduct for City of Winnipeg's water supply 100 years ago. - (Ruth Bonneville / Winnipeg Free Press)
A fishing boat arrives at the docks of Shoal Lake 40 First Nation Wednesday, bringing government officials and dignitaries to a man-made island for the 100th anniversary event. - (Ruth Bonneville / Winnipeg Free Press)
Eight-year-old Kyra Wahpay stands on a mound of dirt cleared to make way for a permanent bridge to cross the canal that separates Shoal Lake 40 First Nation from the mainland. The bridge in the background is a temporary bridge that is used in the winter to connect to a winter road, the only time of the year that residents are connected to the mainland. - (Ruth Bonneville / Winnipeg Free Press)

Hey there, time traveller!
This article was published 10/7/2014 (2428 days ago), so information in it may no longer be current.

SHOAL LAKE 40 FIRST NATION — The first time Linda Redsky fell through the ice, she was heading back to her island reserve after a day in Kenora.

"I remember being under the water because it was a really clear night, and I could see the ice floating around above me, and I could see the stars," she said. "I kept grabbing at the ice but it just kept breaking."

Redsky’s husband, who’d gone to town with her, lay down across the ice, shimmied out to the hole and hauled her out. Then the two crawled the rest of the way to the shores of Shoal Lake 40 First Nation.

"By the time we got there, our hair was just frozen, our clothes were just frozen," said Redsky.

Shoal Lake 40 has been an isolated island since 1914, when Winnipeg began building a 155-kilometre aqueduct to pipe in water from the picture-perfect lake to the capital. That forced the band off the land it occupied for hundreds of years and onto a man-made island, which stymied economic self-sufficiency and forced band members to transport water and groceries by ferry in summer or haul them over the ice in winter.

Adding insult to the century-old injury, Shoal Lake itself has not had clean drinking water for nearly 20 years. Though Winnipeg enjoys some of the safest drinking water in Canada, the reserve is under a boil-water advisory and plans for a water-treatment plant were shelved three years ago.

Chief Erwin Redsky said most Winnipeggers don’t realize the damage their tap water did to his band or how that has resulted in chronic economic inequality.

"They turn the water tap on and everything’s beautiful. On the other end, no," said Redsky. "It’s killing my community but life is booming on the other end — beautiful buildings, jobs, opportunities, clean water."

A fishing boat arrives at the docks of Shoal Lake 40 First Nation Wednesdasy bringing government officials and dignitaries to their manmade island marking the 100th anniversary for the flooding of their land to provide water for the City of Winnipeg.

RUTH BONNEVILLE / WINNIPEG FREE PRESS

A fishing boat arrives at the docks of Shoal Lake 40 First Nation Wednesdasy bringing government officials and dignitaries to their manmade island marking the 100th anniversary for the flooding of their land to provide water for the City of Winnipeg.

On Wednesday, in an effort to shine a light on Shoal Lake 40’s troubles, Redsky invited provincial officials, staff from the city’s water and waste department and representatives from the Canadian Museum for Human Rights to tour the island reserve and the canal that cuts it off from the mainland and hear from band members first-hand.

The museum irritates the members of the First Nation because the building is being serviced by Shoal Lake water and will feature exhibits about water rights even though the band continues to be denied access to clean drinking water or a year-round way on and off the reserve.

When the band was relocated onto a nearby peninsula in the early 1900s, the city also built a canal and a long dike to divert swampy water away from the aqueduct’s intake. That canal left Shoal Lake 40’s 260 residents living on a virtual island for nearly a century. Only in the last two years have the city and province chipped in to build a bridge over the canal and a winter road that’s passable for a couple of cold months.

Redsky said the solution starts with a permanent $25-million road connecting the reserve to the Trans-Canada Highway. So far, the city and the province have pledged $1 million for design work, but the federal government has made no promises, and cash for construction may be far off.

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But Redsky and band councillors say the road could solve many other woes caused by Winnipeg’s aqueduct. It would clear the way for the construction of a water-treatment plant, shelved by Ottawa in part because access to the reserve is hampered. And it would allow for economic development such as cottage lots, a marina, a walleye fishery or logging. For decades, the city effectively barred the band from pursuing those ideas for fear Winnipeg’s water would be contaminated. But, the city’s new $300-million water-treatment plant has allayed many of those fears.

More than jobs and industry, band members say a proper road would save lives. Many health-care professionals won’t travel to the reserve over the ice, and it’s difficult to get in materials for new housing.

Getting water or groceries means first asking around the community to find out what route is safest across the ice, which is often only a hand-width thick. One elder, who has fallen through several times, walks across with a long stick held horizontally to help catch her if she goes through the ice. Along the shore of the reserve are two crosses commemorating cousins who died one night walking home from work at the aqueduct intake. One man said he’d fallen in dozens of times.

Shoal Lake gives life, "but it also takes life, too," said an emotional Lorne Redsky, who spoke during a meeting at which band members shared their stories.

"I’ve lost a lot of family and friends" said Lorne Redsky. "Some are careless, but some are just trying to get home."

maryagnes.welch@freepress.mb.ca

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