Power will be restored to Pimicikamak Cree Nation Thursday evening, as Manitoba Hydro revises estimate

Manitoba Hydro is revising its estimate of when power will be restored to Cross Lake/Pimicikamak Cree Nation.

The Crown corporation says it believes power will be back in the northern Manitoba First Nation on Thursday at 6 p.m.

Earlier Tuesday, Manitoba Hydro had said the lights would come back on by Wednesday at 6 p.m.

“The earlier estimate was based on information from an aerial survey Monday,” Manitoba Hydro explained in its latest update. “Crews on site today determined the repair will take longer due to more difficult location and terrain.”

Pimicikamak Cree Nation declared a state of emergency on Monday following the widespread outage. The community – about 1,300 customers – has been without power since late Sunday night when a supply line crossing the Nelson River went down.

“The loss of power poses a serious risk to the health and safety of our people,” Chief David Monias wrote in a social media post Monday afternoon. “Elders, children, families, and medically vulnerable individuals are being impacted by the inability to heat homes, preserve food and medications, access clean water, and maintain reliable communication and emergency services.”

“This happens every year, there are old poles in our area coming this way into the community and that pole that got damaged is 10 miles away from here and the Minto Development Corporation are trying to help as much as they can to clear out the space,” said Alexander McKay, a Cross Lake resident.

McKay, who is 50, has lived in Cross Lake his entire life. He’s currently staying in the community and is doing his part to help others. He says shelters are full and the situation is getting worse by the day.

“This is like a nightmare to us here, it’s been over 48 hours now, two days without power, it’s getting cold out here, but luckily, we can charge our phones,” said McKay.

Manitoba Hydro says the damage to the 1,000-foot stretch of power line was discovered by aerial survey on Monday, and crews began arriving Monday night and Tuesday morning.

The damaged line is about 10 kilometres from Cross Lake, right over the river.

“Heavy equipment contracted from Cross Lake completed clearing a road Tuesday morning, allowing Manitoba Hydro crews to access the site. Crews are working today stabilizing poles and performing other work,” Manitoba Hydro said in a first news release Tuesday.

“Additional crews and equipment will be on site later today.”

McKay says generators are desperately needed. Right now, two buildings in the community have generator power: the public works building and the former nursing station. He says while some residents have already left Cross Lake for Thompson,  others are being transported to Winnipeg to stay in hotels.

He knows people who have stayed back and are sleeping in their cars with gas supplied by the chief and council.

“There’s still people out there in their homes that don’t have vehicles who cant leave to get food or drinks, so I don’t know if we need to go house to house to knock on doors to see if they need help or food, we did some of that, but we are all survivors here there are lots of hunters and trappers,” said McKay.

The Red Cross said they are supporting community members who were evacuated and are currently shipping heaters and generators to the community.

Manitoba Hydro says crews need one full day of daylight, and the weather is suitable for helicopter operations.

Meanwhile, the Manitoba Keewatinowi Okimakanak (MKO) says they are “deeply disappointed” that Pimicikamak Cree Nation has been left without power and in a state of emergency, following the approval of a 4 per cent rate increase for Manitoba Hydro.

Chief David Monias of Pimicikamak Cree Nation said the absence of long-term Hydro infrastructure replacements has led to this power line failure, saying, “Cross Lake is now facing a compounding emergency involving power, water, and sanitation systems. Immediate, coordinated intervention is required to prevent widespread displacement, health impacts, and environmental harm.” 

The MKO adds in a statement, “MKO argues the timing of the Hydro rate hike is tone deaf and that the approved rates implicitly accept real-world costs that are not included in the rates and that are being imposed on and paid by Manitoba Hydro’s First Nation customers through Hydro’s long-standing pattern of neglect of northern First Nations.

“The rate increase comes just weeks after two northern First Nations, Mathias Colomb Cree Nation (MCCN) and York Factory First Nation, appeared before the Manitoba Public Utilities Board (PUB) to show that the revenues and expenses of Manitoba Hydro that are reflected in the approved rates do not reflect the costs of Manitoba Hydro’s failure respond to the states of emergencies experienced by these First Nations in 2025.”

The state of emergency allows the Cree Nation to activate emergency response protocols, such as facilitating the opening of warming and support centres.