After six year wait, Lake St. Martin flood victims get keys to their new homes

Many have been living in hotels and rental suites in Winnipeg and elsewhere during the long wait to return home. (Pixabay photo)

LAKE ST. MARTIN, Man.— After enduring a six-year wait, about 30 families are set to return home today to the Lake St. Martin First Nation in Manitoba.

They will get the keys to their new homes on the reserve, which was ravaged by floods back in 2011, forcing the evacuation of about 1,000 people.

Many have been living in hotels and rental suites in Winnipeg and elsewhere during the long wait to return home.

It’s the first phase of an operation that will eventually see 150 new houses put up in the community.

About 4,000 members of several flood-ravaged First Nations, including Lake St. Martin, are waiting for their share of a $90-million settlement in a class-action lawsuit they filed against the provincial and federal governments.

The lawsuit alleged the Manitoba government “knowingly and recklessly” caused the disaster in the Indigenous communities by diverting too much floodwater into Lake Manitoba.

It also alleged the province didn’t give them enough warning about the flooding.

Lake St. Martin is 225 kilometres northwest of Winnipeg.