Press Releases

FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE – UPDATE #1

Families Freezing, Systems Failing Pimicikamak Declares Public Health Emergency as Power Crisis Deepens

Treaty Five Territory, Cross Lake, MB  (December 31, 2025) – Pimicikamak Cree Nation is facing a rapidly escalating public health emergency as a prolonged power outage continues to endanger the lives, health, and safety of its citizens.

The Nation remains under a State of Emergency. Hundreds of homes are still without electricity and heat. Water tanks are freezing, sewage systems are failing, and families have lost access to potable water. As dangerously cold temperatures persist, households are relying on candles and portable generators for warmth and light, significantly increasing the risk of fires, carbon monoxide poisoning, and other life-threatening hazards.

Without power or heat, water tanks have frozen and household pipes are freezing across the community. Once heat is restored, many pipes are expected to burst, causing flooding, further loss of water, damage to homes, and displacement of families. This will compound the crisis, significantly delay recovery, and extend the State of Emergency well beyond the restoration of power.

Elders, infants, children, and medically vulnerable citizens are most at risk. Many families have already been evacuated to Norway House and Thompson. With hotel capacity in Thompson now full, Pimicikamak has been working directly with the Canadian Red Cross to relocate evacuees to Winnipeg.  The first evacuation bus arrived on Tuesday in Winnipeg at 11:30 p.m., with families accommodated at the Best Western Hotel.  Additional evacuees are being flown on Wednesday into Winnipeg.

Many families, acting on their own initiative to protect their children and Elders, have also driven to surrounding communities and booked hotels at their own expense to escape the cold. This crisis comes at a time when families should be celebrating the transition from the old year to the new year. Instead, Pimicikamak citizens are struggling to survive a harsh winter without reliable power, heat, or water.

Approximately 600 generators were supposed to be flown into the community to support basic needs. We have many second-hand units, and many had to be repaired by our small motor mechanics, firemen and public works staff and these will only provide only temporary relief. With more than 1,200 homes in Pimicikamak, generators are not a sufficient or sustainable solution.

Manitoba Hydro has confirmed that the damaged transmission line crosses two rivers, where ice thickness prevents ground access. Aging infrastructure, reliance on helicopter support, and severe weather conditions mean repairs may take several days or longer. We took the initiative on our own to build a helipad so their chopper can land and this will prevent them from giving further excuses of having access to the site. This is something they should’ve been doing themselves. 

For years, Pimicikamak has called for a safer and more reliable transmission line routed along the highway, an option Manitoba Hydro has repeatedly resisted. When transmission lines were damaged during last summer’s wildfires, Pimicikamak again warned that failure to relocate the line would result in prolonged outages exactly the situation the Nation is now facing.

“Our people should not be pushed into repeated states of emergency because essential systems are outdated or neglected,” said Chief David Monias. “Reliable infrastructure is not a luxury. These are basic necessities every community deserves.”

Despite Manitoba Hydro being a Crown corporation, and despite Manitoba being a party to the Northern Flood Agreement, Pimicikamak has received little direct assistance from either Manitoba or Manitoba Hydro in the form of emergency supplies, equipment, or supports. Generators, cots, blankets, food, and water should have been deployed immediately without having to be requested.

“I should not have to personally call the Premier to ask for urgency, generators, or basic emergency supports,” Chief Monias said. “Manitoba Hydro should have been the first to step up.”

During this outage, Pimicikamak has already lost one trailer to fire, destroying a critical water asset. As a result, the community has now run out of potable water, further compounding the emergency. This pattern is not new. During last summer’s wildfires, Pimicikamak experienced the same lack of proactive protection, services, and emergency resources.

“We are repeatedly told we are the responsibility of Indigenous Services Canada,” Chief Monias added. “When we called ISC, they acted immediately and activated the Red Cross. With ISC, the Red Cross, Manitoba, and Manitoba Hydro all in existence, we should be okay but we are not okay.”

The ongoing crisis exposes systemic failures: aging infrastructure, lack of protective services, and insufficient emergency resources for First Nations during disasters.

“We should not have to beg for help when we have treaties, agreements, and partnerships that were supposed to benefit our people,” said Chief Monias. “Governments seek our consent for projects of national interest, yet when our people need assistance to survive, support is slow, conditional, or absent.”

“What is happening in Pimicikamak is not just a power outage, it is a systemic failure that puts lives at risk,” said Manitoba Keewatinowi Okimakanak (MKO) Grand Chief Garrison Settee. “No community in this country should be left without heat, water, or emergency supports in the middle of winter. This situation demands immediate, coordinated action from Manitoba, Manitoba Hydro, and Canada. Emergency response must be proactive, not reactive, and it must be rooted in responsibility, accountability, and respect for First Nations.”

Pimicikamak Cree Nation continues to urgently request:
•    Emergency power solutions and additional generators
•    Potable water delivery
 •   Sanitation mitigation supports
•    Evacuation resources, including buses and flights
•    Fire protection and medical safety supports
•    Clear timelines, accountability, and a permanent transmission infrastructure solution from Manitoba Hydro

“Our leadership and frontline workers are doing everything possible to protect our people,” said Chief Monias. “But we cannot do this alone. Governments must respond with urgency,  not promises. Every hour of delay deepens this crisis.”

For more information, please contact:
Communications Team
Assembly of Manitoba Chiefs
Email:  media@manitobachiefs.com
 
About the Assembly of Manitoba Chiefs

The AMC was formed in 1988 by the Chiefs in Manitoba to advocate on issues that commonly affect First Nations in Manitoba. AMC is an authorized representative of all 63 First Nations in Manitoba, with a total of more than 151,000 First Nations citizens in the province, accounting for approximately 12 per cent of the provincial population. AMC represents a diversity of Anishinaabe (Ojibwe), Nehetho / Ininew (Cree), Anishininew (Ojibwe-Cree), Denesuline (Dene) and Dakota Oyate (Dakota) people.