Ottawa committed to building road to Shoal Lake 40 First Nation: MP Add to ...

A departing Conservative MP says the federal government has committed to building a road to a remote aboriginal community along the Manitoba-Ontario boundary.

The Manitoba government and Winnipeg city hall have already committed to building a road to Shoal Lake 40 First Nation, but the federal government has so far refused.

Joy Smith, a Conservative who is not seeking re-election, says she has been told Ottawa will now commit money for the road.

She says she received the message in a phone call with Natural Resources Minister Greg Rickford, who is also the member of Parliament for the Shoal Lake area.

The reserve was cut off from the mainland a century ago when an aqueduct was built to supply fresh water to Winnipeg.

The community has been under a boil-water advisory for 17 years and has no all-weather road, leaving residents to rely on a treacherous ice road in winter and an aging barge in summer.