First Nations communities remove barricades

Added: 2026-05-26

[00:00:00]Several First Nations gathered on an access road east of Lake St. Martin protesting a rock barrier. The communities say the rocks were put there by the province without consultation and are preventing them from accessing their treaty territory. But as CTV's Harrison Shin shows you tonight, they removed those barricades themselves today.

[00:00:21]The Interlake Reserves Tribal Council members did not mince their words. On Friday, First Nation communities near Lake St. Martin bulldozed a provincial road blockade. Obviously, they're infringing on our treaty rights. We have every right to hunt here.

[00:00:34]Uh we've hunted here for many, many years. There are people here that are with us that have actually come hunting here. The 19 and 1/2 km long Lake St. Martin access road is on the east side of the lake. According to the province's 2019 environmental assessment report, the road offers all-season access to a flood mitigation diversion. I'm not sure when they blocked it. We had just found out uh about a week ago. And uh yeah, so we were actually surprised that they had blocked it.

[00:00:59]Take back the land.

[00:01:01]And with that surprise, First Nations leadership is asking why they weren't consulted as the area is within their traditional territory.

[00:01:08]>> We want to continue uh you know, trying to get to a good faith dialogue. And most importantly, uh you know, we don't want to be restricted on our lands and in access to these lands for the the livelihoods that we practice culturally.

[00:01:20]Chief of the Tender says the community will travel past the blockade to take a look at the diversion and pick some medicines. For Derek Gould, he still feels his voice isn't heard. Our grassroots people are the the last ones or maybe not even thought of to be to be uh you know, uh called upon in a media or con- con- consulted with.

[00:01:44]>> Harrison Shin, CTV News, near Lake St. Martin, Manitoba.

[00:01:48]In a statement, Manitoba's infrastructure minister, Lisa Naylor, says in part, "A gate was installed to restrict access as part of the environmental licensing process. She adds based on First Nations feedback, the province is reconsidering the gate installation.