Flood evacuees, hotel staff face upheaval with impending lodge closure

The Misty Lake Lodge in Gimli, Man. is now scheduled to close in September. Its owner said he's owed millions from a federal agency for housing flood evacuees.

Flood evacuees and staff at a Gimli hotel say it's going to be tough to say goodbye.

The owner of the Misty Lake Lodge Mike Bruneau said he's owed millions by an agency and will have to shutter the hotel on Sept. 1.

Dozens of people will be forced to leave.

Edee O’Meara’s family hasn’t had a permanent home since a flood hit their community in 2011.

“I’ve cried millions of tears,” said Edee.

Now, they’re going to have to leave their temporary home.

“I’m very upset. I’m beyond angry. I’m beyond frustration,” she said.

Mike Bruneau said he is owed more than $3 million by the federal agency responsible for the displaced people - the Manitoba Association of Native Firefighters.

“I sat down with the bank on Friday but I guess I wasn't looking at things clearly. But they said, 'We're floating you here. You're a good guy but the money is not coming,’” said Bruneau.

He said MANFF stopped paying him when he went public with allegations the organization was misspending money meant for evacuees.

A coordinator for the group staying at the hotel would not speak to CTV News on Tuesday.

The province said it is pushing Ottawa to resolve the matter between Misty Lake Lodge and MANFF.

“Our interest is that aboriginal people are not left out in the cold and put out in the street,” said Eric Robinson, the province’s minister of aboriginal and northern affairs.

The 60 displaced people from the Little Saskatchewan and Lake St. Martin communities won't be the only ones impacted by the impending closure of the hotel.

A total of 20 staff members will be out of work.

Pat Tarnowski has been the chef at the lodge for a quarter century. She said she will miss the staff and the evacuees.

"It's going to be hard to just stay at home now. I'm not looking forward to it at all,” she said.

Staff and flood evacuees treat each other like family, making the upcoming separation more difficult.

"These people aren't just guests of the hotel, they're our friends. This is really hard to see this is going to happen to them too because some of the people who have been here for two years. This is the only home they have,” said Retha Dykes, general manager of Misty Lake Lodge.

Edee O’Meara said the lodge is the best of the nearly 20 places her family has been placed with since the flood.

"My family is being bounced around so much I don't even know where my mother is right now,” she said.

O’Meara said she’s too exhausted to move again.

The province said work is underway to build new homes and to do flood-proofing on Lake St. Martin and Little Saskatchewan First Nations, two of the community hit hard by the 2011 flood.

- with a report from Jeff Keele