Global’s 16×9 spent weeks in the Shoal Lake 40 First Nation community in the summer and fall of 2015 covering the community’s fight to get Freedom Road built
WINNIPEG — Canada’s new indigenous affairs minister says an isolated reserve under one of the country’s longest boil-water advisories will get a much-needed lifeline to the rest of the country.
Carolyn Bennett says the federal government is committed to seeing an all-weather road built to connect the Shoal Lake 40 First Nation to the mainland.
Global News has learned the minister will be in Winnipeg on Thursday to make the road official.
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The reserve, on the Manitoba-Ontario boundary, was cut off a century ago during construction of an aqueduct which carries fresh water to Winnipeg.
The reserve has been under a boil-water advisory for 18 years.
RELATED: First Nations Reserve one step closer to ‘Freedom Road’
Bennett says the Liberal government is committed to ending that injustice, and a formal announcement is coming in the near future.
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The people of Shoal Lake 40 depend on an aging ferry to get to the mainland in the summer and use a treacherous ice road in the winter.
The former Conservative government refused to commit to help fund construction of a road, despite agreement from the province of Manitoba and the City of Winnipeg to split the cost three ways.
READ MORE: Winnipeg City Council approved $1 million for Shoal Lake 40’s ‘Freedom Road’
Bennett says construction of the road is an important part of reconciliation.
With files from Global News
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