The IRTC Chiefs and team met with Premier Kinew, and Ministers Lisa Naylor and Ian Bushie to discuss the Outlet Channels Project.

Elder Joe Anderson opened the meeting with prayers. Discussions focused on a framework, including a potential Memorandum of Understanding,  for moving forward on outstanding flood compensation, the proposed Lake Manitoba and Lake St. Martin Outlet Channels Project and our communities’ opposition to the project as it stands, and the approach taken by previous provincial governments which did not take our communities concerns into account.

The Chiefs, together with IRTC’s CEO, raised our communities’ concerns of increasing climate-related impacts on our communities through flooding, fires, or droughts. We stressed the impact this has on the members of our communities, on our Chiefs and the strain these extreme climate events have on our resources, particularly when slow and unresponsive barriers with different governments hurts our ability to build resilience for the longer-term health of our Peoples.

The Premier and his ministers acknowledged the weight of historic missteps and applauded the efforts undertaken by the IRTC Chiefs and our communities to address the impacts. The Premier committed to making progress on engaging with our communities and to finalize a framework to move forward as partners and to the benefit of our communities. We will continue to meet with the Premier, the ministers and their teams and push for the interests of all members of our communities and keep you updated as those conversations take place on next steps.