Northern Manitoba First Nations have declared a state of emergency due to poor winter roads

Chiefs of four northern Manitoba First Nations have declared a state of emergency as unseasonably warm weather has caused winter road networks on which they depend for vital goods and services to fail.

Scott Harper, chief executive of the council of four First Nations, says their focus is on expediting the delivery of essential goods to maintain the health, safety and well-being of residents.

Harper invited the provincial and federal governments to meet with representatives of St. Teresa's Point, Wasagamac, Garden Hill and Red Hood Lake.

Assembly of Manitoba Chiefs Chief Cathy Merrick says the emergency is “a direct result of governments' failure to ensure First Nations have equal access to goods, services and critical resources.”

The emergency declaration comes after Merrick and Northern Chiefs last week upgraded an all-season road connecting remote northern communities on the east side of Lake Winnipeg with the south.

They are asking the Manitoba and federal governments to pay for the 252-kilometre road that runs from the Behrens River in the south to St. Therese Point in the north, where the year-round road system ends.