Kinew, leaders visit Manitoba First Nation dealing with frozen water crisis

PIMICIKAMAK CREE NATION, MAN. – Politicians travelled to get a look at a First Nation in northern Manitoba that’s scrambling to clean up and fix up after a frozen water catastrophe buckled ceilings, swamped homes in sewage and forced thousands out.

Manitoba Premier Wab Kinew, federal Northern and Arctic Affairs Minister Rebecca Chartrand and Assembly of First Nations National Chief Cindy Woodhouse Nepinak were among the delegation that toured Pimicikamak Cree Nation on Wednesday.

With them came renewed supplies of bottled water and food.

But the biggest need? Plumbers.

Todd McConnell, a plumber brought into Pimicikamak, said it could take months to make repairs to the estimated 800 damaged homes.

“We’re trying to get everything fixed one house at a time,” McConnell said.

“We have come across some homes that have been lucky, but it’s far and few.”

A handful of plumbers have been brought in to help the eight local handymen, with more expected in the future.

However, many more tradespeople are needed to make homes habitable, said McConnell. “Even in lower Manitoba, it’s still hard to find a plumber right now.

“So now to get them to come up north to drop everything, that’s hard, too.”

Fixing the plumbing is only one step in the repairs needed, he added.

“Even when we do get everything online, we’re going to find even more issues,” he said. “Behind walls there’s going to be black mould. You can’t live with black mould. It rapidly grows.”

Frozen water was the final link in a chain reaction of problems for the First Nation, a community of about 7,000 people located 530 kilometres north of Winnipeg.

On Dec. 28, a 300-metre-long power line running between two islands in the Nelson River broke. Manitoba Hydro fully restored power to the community days later, but the power went out during a bitterly cold run of weather and, when residents returned, they found ruptured pipes.

At least 4,000 people were sent to other communities, including Winnipeg and Thompson.

When Murphy Trout returned home on Sunday, parts of his house began to fill with water.

“I started warming up this house and those pipes were starting to burst … the crawl space was half full of water,” Trout said.

A water main break flooded portions around the outside of Trout’s home, freezing into slick patches of ice. Plumbers arrived on Wednesday and shut off the water valve to stop a complete flood of the crawl space, but now Murphy turns his worries to the mould that could develop.

Local plumber Randy Spence said the priority now is to get plumbing fixed to the homes of seniors and children.

He said he’s one of the lucky ones. His sump pump started working when the power was turned back on, saving his home from the flooding he has seen in other houses.

“I feel for them,” Spence said. “I’ve been working for 40 years for the community, and I just want to help them. But it’s impossible to do everything just like that.”

Pimicikamak Chief David Monias has said it’s unclear how many of the more than 1,300 homes will ultimately need repairs, noting they have not had time to inspect them.

At least four homes burned due to electrical and heating issues. One home was completely levelled, with charred furniture all that remains.

Politicians were brought to one residence where the basement’s ceiling collapsed from the weight of water. Piles of drywall littered the floor as workers funnelled in and out tasked with drying out what’s left.

Water had to be shut off at the community’s youth centre, arena and a school. The health centre is running but on limited water.

One of the First Nation’s three water treatment plants is fully operational but not able to service the entire community. Water treatment operators have had to work around the clock to fix the damage.

The community is under a boil water advisory.

In a joint statement, Chartrand, Indigenous Services Minister Mandy Gull-Masty and Emergency Management Minister Eleanor Olszewski said the federal government has been in regular contact with community leadership.

“The federal government is also supporting the restoration of critical infrastructure and repair work through the community-led procurement of building supplies and the engagement of contractors and tradespeople who are being brought to the community on an accelerated basis,” the ministers said.

Kinew told reporters that he has asked Crown-owned Manitoba Hydro to review its response to the power outage and to consider moving the community’s power line.

“I did ask them to … examine the idea of putting the power line along the road — will that make a difference? How feasible is it? That’s a clear ask that I heard today,” Kinew said.

Monias has also asked for help from the Armed Forces. Chartrand didn’t commit to calling in military help but signalled it might be discussed with some of her cabinet colleagues.

“I’m not ruling out that the army won’t be deployed. But that is not my decision to make,” she said. “We’ve heard it loud and clear and that will likely be a part of the conversation as we come back together after today.”

It has been a lamentable, challenging year for the First Nation. Several thousand were forced out of the community due to summer wildfires last spring.

This report by The Canadian Press was first published Jan. 7, 2026.

— With files from Steve Lambert in Winnipeg