QUESTION PERIOD — Indigenous Services
Mathias Colomb Cree Nation
October 28, 2025
The 2,200 citizens of the Mathias Colomb Cree Nation were evacuated for 126 days this summer because the community was without power. On August 20, the Minister of Indigenous Services was presented with a shovel-ready backup generator solution for the community, but to date, there has been no response.
The Mathias Colomb Cree Nation has paid 10% of the $8‑million cost of the ready-to-ship backup generator solution that has been vetted by Manitoba Hydro and hydro consultants. The First Nation will forfeit the $800,000 down payment if the remaining $7 million is not paid by October 31, 2025.
Will you issue a comfort letter so that they can pay and secure this critical backup?
Thank you for the question, Senator McCallum.
It is challenging for me when I receive multiple requests from communities, and sometimes those requests are outside of the scope of Indigenous Services Canada. One of the issues is that Indigenous Services Canada is not responsible for energy supply to communities. That is at the provincial level and Crown corporation level.
I am well aware of the presentation they provided to me. I have asked the province to respond to their needs in a timely manner. I know that Mathias Colomb Cree Nation was outside of their community for an extended period of time. I believe this space requires the province to ensure the services they offer to all residents of that province are reflected even in remote, isolated regions.
It is a firmly established practice that Canada and Manitoba, specifically Manitoba Hydro, have cost-shared all energy-related capital infrastructure that serves First Nations in northern Manitoba, such as transmission lines and diesel generating systems. The minister has a constitutional obligation and fiduciary duty to ensure that the Mathias Colomb Cree Nation has energy security, especially for emergency response, which is becoming increasingly important with the increased frequency and intensity of severe weather and wildfires driven by climate change.
Thank you. As a minister, I am doing everything to invest within the scope of the services that I offer. That means working with my fellow ministerial colleagues to align emergency management so that we are not only looking at prevention but also empowering communities to be decision makers that respond to emergencies and to ensure there is a climate component included in that. This is a new reality that we are living in. We have to be prepared to respond to it. That includes everybody in every province and in every community.
For me, at the same time, I have to ensure that I stay within this scope. Providing energy services to a community continues to lie within the jurisdiction of the provinces.
