Remote Manitoba First Nation gets funding for new bridges

A new road development connecting First Nations communities in northern Manitoba could provide residents with lower food prices, better housing, and improved health care.

That was the message at a newsconference held on Fridayby Aboriginal Affairs Minister Eric Robinson to announce that theBunibonibee First Nation hassigned a community benefitsagreement linked to road construction on the east side of Lake Winnipeg.

The new project involves building two bridges at Hayes River andLaidlawRiver, valued at $5.7 million and $4.3 million dollars respectively, Robinson said.

The bridges are just one part of a larger plan to build and improve roads in the area, according to Chief Irvin Sinclair of BunibonibeeFirst Nation.

"It would be a lifeline for the three communities. It's not just for Oxford House, it's for God's Lake and Manto Sipi," Sinclair said.

Wider and safer roads would lower living costs for residents by reducing freight costs.

"Anything you use up there is twice, maybe three times the amount," Sinclair said.

Theproposed road system would keep winter roads open longer andconnectBunibonibeeFirst Nation, God's Lake First Nation and MantoSipito Norway House.

Robinson saidwithout federal money, the roads could take up to 30 years to complete.

"We need the federal government to be partners with us," said Robinson.

Sinclair saidthe First Nation will go back to the table with the federal government to ask for additionalfunding.

The province's$10-millioninvestment in the bridgesis in addition to $269 million of funding to the East Side Road Authority.

The initiative has created 600 jobs and270 training opportunities, andhas delivered $86 million in benefits to the community, according to the province.

First Nation to talk to Ottawa

The road system would keep winter roads open longer. Connecting Bunibonibee First Nation, God's Lake First Nation and Manto Sipi to Norway House would improve their standards of living, Robinson said.

Sinclair said the First Nation will go back to the table with the federal government so that the road can progress faster.

"If we were to have the federal government more engaged in the all-weather road initiative, we would finish the project in half the time," he said.

"We're limited by a certain amount the provincial government has, but when is the federal government going to kick in and say, 'OK, let's start working on these First Nations that are remote?'"

Most problems in First Nations originate in the health of a community, Sinclair said.

With those improvements, Chief Irvin Sinclair hopes that the community can develop its other infrastructure such as wastewater and sewage systems.

"If the two governments come to play, I'll see it in my lifetime. If not, my grandchildren, I hope I leave them with a concrete, binding agreement that the road will be established whether we're dead and gone."