Take treaty rights seriously or suffer the consequences

Take treaty rights seriously or suffer the consequences,
and in the case of Manitoba First Nations, that means restricting flows from the Lake St. Martin emergency outlet channel and not taking the weight of flood waters while other communities get protection. On July 11 in Winnipeg, Grand Chief Derek Nepinak of the Manitoba Assembly of Chiefs said “It shouldn’t be 100 per cent losses in our communities and 100 per cent preservation of everybody else.” During a time of massive flooding in Saskatchewan and Manitoba, First Nations protesters prevented crews from fully reopening the Lake St. Martin channel, built in 2011 and designed to lower water levels on the lake.