The Northern Association of Community Councils (NACC)

This morning I was at the NACC meetings in Winnipeg. The NACC is comprised of more than 50 northern communities varying in size from very small to more than 600 people. It includes communities like Wabowden, Duck Bay, Sherridon and Seymourville. Members of the association gather annually to share concerns and to plan for the coming year. This morning I was part of a panel with several NDP ministers, Gord Steeves, representing the City of Winnipeg, and the MKO Grand Chief Sydney Garrioch. After the introductory remarks, there was time for questions and answers – and there were lots and lots of questions.
One of the concerns was flooding at the north end of Lake Manitoba. When the Portage Diversion was opened to prevent flooding of Winnipeg earlier this year, it poured more water into Lake Manitoba and raised the level of the lake flooding land used to produce the winter supply of hay. The Province of Manitoba was charging rent on this Crown land to the rancher – not accounting for the fact that 1,000 acres was no longer land; it was now water. Sometimes we who live in the City of Winnipeg forget that decreasing flooding in the city has adverse impacts far away. It’s time to have a better long-term approach to deal with this issue.