Manitoba's Billion Dollar Road Project to Open Communities to Development

Posted on December 1, 2010 12:00:00am by Laurena Weninger

There are almost 2,000 people living on Manitoba’s Wasagamack First Nation Reserve, east of Lake Winnipeg. The reserve is more than 480 kilometers away, as the crow flies, from the nearest service centre, which is in Winnipeg.

More than 3,000 people live on the St. Theresa Point Reserve, also on the east side of Lake Winnipeg, who are also more than 400 kilometers from Winnipeg.

There are more than 1,000 First Nations people living on the Hollow Water reserve; 850 living on the Red Suckerlake Reserve; and almost 2,000 band members living on the Berens River reserve.

In all, approximately 96,000 residents reside in an 82,000-hectare (203,000 acres) area east of Lake Winnipeg.

And, if the residents in these communities want to connect to the rest of the province, they indeed have to do it “as the crow flies,” because there is no year-round road access for many of them.

Ernie Gilroy, a career politician in Manitoba and chair of the Manitoba Floodway Authority, is also the chief executive officer of the East Side Road Authority - a group working to bring a permanent, year-round road system to link 13 First Nations bands and 10 Northern Affairs communities.

Each winter, rivers and lakes surrounding the remote communities freeze and the Manitoba government installs a temporary network of ice roads, but climate warming is making the temporary nature of those roads ever more temporary.

“With climate change it’s gotten to be about a month, now,” Gilroy says. He points out that roads aren’t built until temperatures drop low enough and close as soon as it warms.

For the rest of the year, it’s access by airplane, helicopter, boat or not at all.

Those living conditions are hard to bear says Chief Jerry Knott of the Wasagamack First Nation. “We are in dire straits for houses,” Knott says, arising from the limits of a one-month-a-year ice road. “We can’t get our building materials.”

Lack of access also cramps a healthy lifestyle. Milk, a perishable product, is hard to come by, and runs $12 to $14 for a four-litre jug. Instead, children drink a cheaper alternative - pop.

There is a doctor who flies into Wasagamack one day each week, Knott says, but that’s not often enough. Anyone needing more care must travel to Winnipeg.

With a one-way flight to Winnipeg costing $266, on top of the $80 charge to take a boat to the airport, at St. Theresa Point, overnight accommodation and food in Winnipeg, it is almost $1,000 for a medical appointment.

It’s a situation that is going to be remedied by development of the road network. Technically, it will be two separate roads, one in the south part of the East Side region, and another in the north.

In March 2010, the Manitoba government announced a $72.5 million investment for the first stage of the road project, a 160-kilometer stretch from Public Road 304, near Manigotagan, to Berens River First Nation. Completion is planned for 2014.

It’s the first of 15 such annual injections in the prov ince’s business plan. The next section is a northern east-west portion to link Island Lake Communities (including Wasagamack) and Northern Cree Communities to Public Road 373.

So far, the Manitoba government has committed $1.125 billion to the project, but as been unable to get any federal funding at all says Gilroy, who is still hoping to secure some sort of federal commitment.

Roads are built all the time, but there’s an element to this project that makes it a bit different from other road construction initiatives.

“Our mandate is to not simply build a road, but to build an economy,” Gilroy says. “Unemployment is extremely high in this area.” Much of the program has involved establishing “community benefit agreements” with the communities in an attempt to ensure jobs, training and economic benefits are maximized for local residents.

“This is sustainable development,” Gilroy says, explaining the expected benefits for the communities. First, millions of cubic meters of gravel will be needed in the construction phase. According to Gilroy that will all be purchased from local first nations groups; although, at a premium.

They are buying the gravel at a cost 25% higher than market value, as a “capital building allowance.” That means groups can build the technology they need to provide the services and materials. As part of the process, the First Nations groups will each establish a company. “We will literally go in and mentor the man agement of that company,” Gilroy says.

The pre-construction phases require gravel crushing, and clearing of the planned roadway. When the road construction starts, a minimum of 20 to 30% of labour must be local. One-third of construction costs must be spent in the communities, by way of workforce, materials, or through services like catering and security.

The impact is expected to last beyond the days of road construction, Gilroy says. In its wake, the project will leave a number of trained individuals and established companies along with the new road.

Knott says the road alone is going to lead to more opportunities.

“We could build our houses year-round,” he says. That will lead to better water and sewer facilities. The community will also establish a construction company, Knott says, including carpenters, drillers and machine operators, and he expects to see work for 15 to 30% of the residents.

In addition, when the road opens, motorists will be passing through on their way from one community to another. That means a gas bar or convenience store could be established to service people along the way. Tourism will also be facilitated, allowing easier access for those wanting to come for the fishing.

Last spring, the Wasagamack band started up a small sawmill operation, Knott says, because of the road project. The road access will allow the community to look at logging in the area, and then milling wood.

The road to the actual start of the project wasn’t with out its speed bumps. The project has been in the works for the last two years, including a host of meetings with the community members.

The first community benefits agreement was an $11.25-million contract with Berens River First Nation, signed in August 2009. The agreement with Wasagamack is worth $2.25 million, and so far, 11 of the 13 First Nations communities have signed such agreements that will provide jobs, training and economic opportunities related to pre-construction work. It is anticipated the other two bands will sign in the near future.

“We have done extensive outreach to these communities and they have all indicated they want to be linked up to the outside world, and each other,” Gilroy says. Initially there were concerns about what a road network connecting the area to the rest of the province might mean to this rare, boreal-forested area.

He says the government has studied the movement of the caribou, to identify and avoid calving areas. He stresses that future commercial enterprises like mining and logging activity, will be carefully managed.

There is also work underway by a nonprofit First-Nation-led group called the Pimachiowin Aki Corporation, to have a portion of the area designated a United Nations Educational, Scientific and Cultural Organization (UNESCO) World Heritage Designation Site.

The nomination process will take three to five years to complete and will produce important outcomes including community-based land-use plans, a network of linked protected areas and an innovative management system that combines western and indigenous knowledge.

“[The road project coordinaters are] committed to ensuring that construction of an all-season road on the east side of Lake Winnipeg is compatible with the proposed UNESCO World Heritage Dsignation, states the project's website. As a result, construction of the road will be undertaken in a manner that is consistent with the needs of local residents, traditional land uses and sustainable development principles.