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

A northern Manitoba First Nation is assessing the damage after being in the dark for almost one week following a power outage.

PIMICIKAMAK CREE NATION, MAN. -- Politicians flew Wednesday to get a look at a northern Manitoba First Nation scrambling to clean up and fix up after a frozen water catastrophe buckled floors, swamped homes in sewage and forced thousands out.

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

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.”

He said he has five plumbers working under him in the community, with two more joining later on.

However, many more tradespeople are needed to make homes habitable, he said. “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.

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.

He said water seeped into electrical sockets in some homes, sparking at least four fires.

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.

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.

Brittany Hobson, The Canadian Press