First Nation buys own backup generators, saying governments and utility failed them

Trees burned by wildfires in northern Manitoba are shown during a helicopter tour in the surrounding area of Flin Flon, Man. on Thursday, June 12, 2025. THE CANADIAN PRESS/Mike Deal-Pool

WINNIPEG — A Manitoba First Nation whose residents were evacuated for months last summer due to a wildfire and an extended power outage says it has bought its own backup generators, after it says governments and the province’s Crown-owned electric utility failed them.

The Mathias Colomb Cree Nation says it has moved forward, on its own, to arrange private financing for the $8-million purchase of generators it says were meant to be installed last summer to bring wildfire evacuees home.

More than 2,000 residents of the First Nation, in northwestern Manitoba, remained evacuated for 128 days due to an extended Manitoba Hydro outage that the community says the backup generators would have resolved.

In a news release, Mathias Colomb Chief Gordie Bear chastised Canada and Manitoba for not supporting or cost-sharing the urgent purchase of the generators earlier, and he called on the province’s minister responsible for Manitoba Hydro to direct the utility to connect the new equipment.

Manitoba Hydro says that during the wildfire crisis last summer, it told the community that transporting and setting up large generators at that time was not feasible due to continuing wildfires and limited rail service.

The utility says it paid for consultants last year to help the First Nation figure out what they would need for future backup generation, but that it doesn’t cost-share for any customer-owned generation.

“Hundreds of Manitoba Hydro employees repaired damage in remote areas and hundreds more kept them supplied and housed during the effort to restore power,” Manitoba Hydro spokesman Peter Chura said in an email.

“The line to the community required replacement of 253 structures, amid logistical challenges including limited rail freight and very challenging terrain often requiring helicopters and boring holes in rock to set poles,” he added.

Neither Finance Minister Adrien Sala, who is Manitoba’s minister responsible for Manitoba Hydro, nor federal Indigenous Services Minister Mandy Gull-Masty immediately responded to requests for comment late Friday.

Government officials called 2025 the worst fire season since daily electronic records began in the mid-1990s. At its peak, some 21,000 Manitobans were out of their communities.

Bear said more than 1,000 members of his First Nation were evacuated to Niagara Falls, Ont.

“We had to move forward with our own solution for energy security and emergency response,” Bear said in the First Nation’s news release.

“We can’t leave our elders and families and youth and children vulnerable to the harms and damages of another extended power outage and evacuation.”

The utility said diverting crews to attempt to supply generators, as well as modifying a substation to accept them, would have delayed the full restoration of power.

“We support the community acquiring its own backup generation, as it is their responsibility,” the utility’s statement said.