Manitoba to pay up to $4.3 million to move First Nation flood evacuees

The Manitoba government has reached an agreement with the federal government and the Little Saskatchewan First Nation to move a number of remaining flood evacuees to higher ground early in the new year.

The agreement provides 40 new homes for the community. The homes will be moved from their current location at the province’s temporary evacuation site to high-elevation land owned by Little Saskatchewan First Nation adjacent to their community.  

Manitoba will provide up to $4.3 million for the First Nation to move the houses, construct a community road, and prepare the housing lots and foundations, according to a government statement.  

Manitoba and the federal government will each pay $3.3 million for the first 34 houses and six more will be covered under the federal Disaster Financial Assistance program, the statement added.

“These homes will ensure that the remaining flood evacuees from Little Saskatchewan continue to return to their home community over the next few months,” Aboriginal Affairs and Northern Development Canada Minister John Duncan noted.

“There are still evacuations in place in the other hardest hit communities and we are working with their leadership and the province to get these families back home as quickly as possible as well.”

Manitoba and the First Nation have also agreed to jointly carry out an assessment of the remaining housing stock on the reserve on an expedited basis to determine the housing needs of the remaining evacuees and will be working cooperatively with the federal government in the coming weeks to ensure these needs are met as quickly as possible, the government noted.