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Indigenous partnership to bring transportation, energy infrastructure to Central Canada

WINNIPEG, Man. – Indigenous communities are coming together in Central Canada to develop multi-billion dollar infrastructure projects, including an all-weather road to Canada’s north.

The coalition, announced Aug. 9, is comprised of leaders across 37 Indigenous communities in the Treaty 5 territory, which includes large parts of Manitoba and border regions of Saskatchewan and Ontario.

The project is known as the Wáwátéwák Corridor, named after a Cree word for northern lights.

The goal of the group will be developing the large infrastructure projects, including the all-weather road, and owning and operating the energy corridor in Northern Manitoba.

The corridor will eventually extend to Indigenous communities in Northern Saskatchewan and Alberta. The projects, estimated to cost between $4 and $5 billion and take 10 years to complete, will also include a high-voltage power transmission line, a fibre-optic network and a hydrogen transport network connected to Alberta.

The construction process will create more than 1,000 jobs, with 200 to 400 jobs resulting from the corridor’s completion, according to Mark Sweeny, the president of the project.