2 years after historic flood, Peguis First Nation evacuees still waiting to return home

Karen Courchene says she didn't think she would be living in Winnipeg for this long.

The woman from Peguis First Nation came to the city in the aftermath of the 2022 flood along the Fisher River, which displaced more than a thousand people in the northern Interlake commu‐ nity.

Courchene has been living in Winnipeg for two years now, but she wants to return home.

"The longer it gets, the more I'm starting to think it's not temporary, and this may well be a permanent move," Courchene said.

"Life has its ebbs and flows and twists and turns, and you have to go with what's there. I would rather be in my own home in the community, but it's not possi‐ ble right now."

It's been two years since the historic flooding caused millions of dollars in dam‐ ages to homes and infra‐ structure in Manitoba's largest First Nation commu‐ nity. Courchene is one of about 550 Peguis community members who, according to the Peguis First Nation chief, are still unable to return to their homes after the flood.

"We did the hotel thing for a while and had to move about four times," said Courchene, who has been liv‐ ing in an apartment for about a year and a half with one of her daughters.

"There are many who have settled into apartments and homes in the city. But we're all hoping to go home.… As we move further and further away from the flooding incident, I think we're starting to think maybe we're not going home."

Melissa Sanderson also moved to Winnipeg after the flood.

Sanderson is an emer‐ gency coordinator for the First Nation, working with the Red Cross to find housing for others who were displaced.

"There's no housing in Peguis. Absolutely nothing," Sanderson said. "We have people living in our rec cen‐ tre and it's condemned. We have families living in there."

Sanderson said roughly 30 people who were dis‐ placed in 2022 are still living in hotels. She said it's very hard to find rental units that have all the necessary utili‐ ties within budget. She's al‐ lowed to spend $1,232 in rent per person.

"Some people have bad rental history. That could be enough," she said. "Some of them don't like the areas that they're in.… I took an elder to a viewing and it was way, way out.… She didn't know where she was."

'No faith' in the federal government

Peguis Chief Stan Bird has said repairing, replacing or relocating approximately 500 flood-affected homes in the community could cost more than $275 million.

Earlier this month, the

First Nation filed a $1-billion lawsuit against the federal and provincial governments as well as two municipalities upstream of the community the rural municipalities of Fisher and Bifrost-Riverton seeking damages over the losses connected to the flood, except for what's al‐ ready been reimbursed by Ottawa.

Peguis claims governmen‐ ts failed to remedy or pre‐ vent the flood. The commu‐ nity didn't have permanent flood protection despite being hit with major floods regularly from 2006 to 2014.

An Indigenous Services Canada spokesperson said in an email it provided about $18 million to Peguis First Nation for flood response and recovery from May 2022 to March 2023, including to support flood preparation last year.

"The department is con‐ tinuing to work with Peguis on its flooding issues, and In‐ digenous Services Minister Patty Hajdu has signed a memorandum of under‐ standing to formalize longterm flood protection for the First Nation," the spokesper‐ son said.

Courchene said her home was also condemned in 2011, but her husband and nephew were able to repair it then.

"This time, my husband was deceased. My nephew was unwell," she said. "It was me and my daughters, and we just didn't have the emo‐ tional strength at that point to take care of it. But if I had money, if I had a little wind‐ fall, I would repair it."

Peguis First Nation was moved to a flood-prone area in 1907, when Canada forced it to surrender its original re‐ serve, located in what's now the rural municipality of St. Clements.

Courchene said the Cana‐ dian government has done Peguis wrong since then, and that she has "no faith" in it.

She her husband first moved to Peguis in 1996, and had been living in that same house for most of the time since then. Now, she said she feels like she's now only a "visitor" in her own commu‐ nity.

"I'm getting close to retire‐ ment age. I had a vision, idea in my mind that my little house was going to be my re‐ tirement home," she said.

"My house is right on the highway. I drive by it every day. It breaks my heart. I don't stop in too often."