Lake St. Martin First Nations
After the Flood
Manitoba, Canada(2013-2017)
Story Published in The Wall Street Journal and The Globe and Mail
More than three years ago, unparalleled water levels on Canada’s Lake Manitoba forced the provincial government to make a dire decision: allow the water to swell and flood neighboring homes, land and resources, or divert the water into Lake St. Martin, devastating a 140-year-old first nation reservation.
The government chose the latter, effectively saving urban and agricultural properties from catastrophic floodwaters. But the artificial flood decimated the homes and infrastructure of the Lake St. Martin First Nation (LSMFN) community, forcing its entire population to be permanently evacuated. Residents left behind most of their belongings, and more intangibly, their livelihoods. Relocated to hotels or temporary housing without land to hunt and fish or kitchens to cook in-- without means of earning income or adequate compensation for their destroyed properties-- the community was devastated.
Read more in The Wall Street Journal words by: Chelsea Matiash