NewzWINNIPEG - Hundreds of people remain displaced more than six months after some residents of a northern Manitoba First Nation were forced to evacuate because of a power outage that led to severe water damage. A proposed class-action lawsuit has been filed in a Manitoba court related to last winter’s power outage that plunged a northern First Nation in cold and darkness for several days. The class action – filed by Chief David Monias and the Cross Lake Band of Indians — seeks payment for damages, and calls for the immediate installation of a permanent second hydro line while keeping the existing line as a backup in case of emergencies.
Manitoba Hydro, the Attorney General of Canada, and the Government of Manitoba are named as defendants. The proposed lawsuit is in response to the days-long outage that began Dec. 28 after a power line broke in Cross Lake/Pimicikamak Cree Nation, a First Nation 530 kilometres north of Winnipeg.
It happened during a cold snap, leading to frozen water systems, sewer backups, electrical issues and burst pipes in homes. Roughly 4,400 people were forced to take refuge in Thompson and Winnipeg, and more than 1,300 homes were either destroyed or required some form of repair. The First Nation says 650 people have still not been able to return home, seven months later.
“The harm continued long after the lights came back on,” Monias said. “We have about 180 homes that are still damaged that are uninhabitable and about 35 of them need to be replaced completely.” Crews work to fix a water main break in front of a home on the Pimicikamak Cree Nation, Man., on Wednesday, January 7, 2026. THE CANADIAN PRESS/John Woods Chief Monias claims Cross Lake had warned the government and Manitoba Hydro for years that a “catastrophic event was inevitable,” with the water and sewage infrastructure already deteriorating before the outage.
“The water plants, both north and south, were on life support, meaning they were actually in operation, using duct tape and glue to keep things together,” the chief explained. They were using trash pumps to draw water to fill the wet well so we can fill it up to a certain pressure, then it would break down again.” According to the proposed class action, Manitoba Hydro had also been warned about repeated outages, difficult access to the existing power line, and the need for backup infrastructure. Monias says the First Nation’s “warnings weren’t heard.” “They knew, or ought to have known, that it was just a matter of time before a system failure would endanger the …
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