The 9th Anniversary

On May 31 it will be nine years since the flooding of Lake Manitoba drove us out of our homes. Little did we know then that the forced evacuation would last months and for some years before we could resume life at the la

Those of us lucky enough to return to a home found destruction in homes and a moonscape of a neighborhood. We pumped water for weeks working around restrictions limiting our time on our property. We salvaged what we could.

We found ourselves bookkeepers, subcontractors trying find tradespeople to repair, move lift and rebuild. We navigated the ever-changing landscape of government regulations and rules for partial repayments. We were on our own. And we were the lucky ones! Many friends and neighbors lost everything. Homes disappeared or were so badly damaged that they had to be torn down. A life time in family treasures oten disappeared in the destruction.

The resilience of our communities is a credit to persistence and faith in government. We read about a channel that was built in record time in the Lake St. Martin area. Little did we know that this channel would do nothing to protect us from future flooding and indeed be mothballed in favour of a new plan. The completion date changed year-by-year. The environmental licensing of the new project has become a political nightmare with no real end in sight.

Like most, the road has been emotionally difficult. Friends have moved, others suffered with illness and sadly some have passed. For all of us from some degree have had life put on pause waiting for some sense of normality to return. I can’t help but think of those who are no longer part of the community. I think of the years that were stolen from their retirement and forced life-change that this event has caused. There is no compensation for that missed time.

Suffering and displacement has happened in communities along the lake – not just north of it. Most I know begrudgingly acknowledge a kind of duty for the greater good accepting the water through the diversion to spare others. Now we need political will to pay that attitude back with peace of mind that will come from completion of the channels that will lessen the chance of future floods.

We need to express our experience to our political leaders and urge them to get on with it! I encourage you to mark this dubious anniversary by writing to your MP, MLA or Ministers and urge a swift end to the delays.

Jack King

Links to Government MPs and MLAs

Members of Parliament (Manitoba): https://sources.com/PNN/MBFed.htm

Manitoba Legislature: https://www.gov.mb.ca/legislature/members/mla_list_alphabetical.html

Federal Minister of Infrastructure and Communities

 infc.minister-ministre.infc@canada.ca

Provincial Minister of Infrastructure

minmi@leg.gov.mb.ca