ManitobaA remote northern Manitoba First Nation issued a state of emergency on Tuesday after a weekend snowstorm knocked out power, leaving community members without heat and electricity. Outage left community without heat and electricity, forcing some to evacuateDave Baxter · CBC News · Posted: Oct 14, 2025 9:21 PM EDT | Last Updated: 1 hour agoNisichawayasihk Cree Nation Deputy Chief Marcel Moody said the community called a state of emergency after power went out in the community early Sunday morning, and was still out as of 5 p.m. on Tuesday. ( Submitted by Marcel Moody )A remote northern Manitoba First Nation issued a state of emergency on Tuesday after a weekend snowstorm knocked out power, leaving community members without heat and electricity. According to Marcel Moody, Nisichawayasihk Cree Nation’s deputy chief, power was knocked out in the community, also commonly referred to as Nelson House, early Sunday morning, and remained that way as of 5 p.m. on Tuesday. The extended power outage has caused challenges and frustration throughout the community located more than 800 kilometres north of Winnipeg and home to approximately 3,000 on- reserve members. “A lot of people in the community don’t have any wood stoves, so there’s no heat in their houses, because they have just one course of heat, and that’s the furnaces,” Moody said. “When the power goes out there’s absolutely no alternative for people to heat their homes.”One of the biggest challenges, according to Moody, has been trying to keep elders safe and comfortable in their homes.On Monday, he said approximately 60 elders were bused from the community to the city of Thompson where they are now staying in hotels, and will stay there until the power comes back on. “A lot of our elders are sick, they need medication, and we have to be really careful,” he said. He added businesses have been shut down since the power went out, leaving the community struggling to purchase essentials such as gasoline and food.“Everything’s shut down,” he said. “People don’t have access to food and we have restaurants in Nelson House, but they have no power.”Moody says the community has also been frustrated with Manitoba Hydro as officials try to figure out when the power might be restored. “I mean there’s no reliable information from Hydro,” he said. “The information keeps on changing, and we pass that information on to our community members and people get frustrated.”He added many community members were not prepared for the extended power outage and have been left scrambling to get their hands on necessary supplies.“A lot of people that are in their homes were ill-equipped for this, so they rely on us for support,” he said. Officials in the community are also concerned because over the last few years, Moody says, increasingly severe weather has affected the community, something he expects will continue. “It’s been a challenge and there’s more and more storms, and more severe storms ahead of us, and it’s difficult to manage these storms,” he said. The community currently has an emergency co-ordinator who Moody said works on an “as needed” basis, but he said the chief and council now believe they will need to hire someone to do that job full time.With the state of emergency called, Moody says the community is hoping to get financial support from the Canadian Red Cross for things including hotel and travel costs for elders, as well as other supports. The community has also reached out to Indigenous Services Canada for emergency assistance and additional resources. On Tuesday they were in the process of securing more generators to support community needs.In their most recent update from Hydro, Moody says, the community was told they should expect power to be back on around 8 p.m. Tuesday. In a Tuesday email, Manitoba Hydro spokesperson Peter Chura said crews continue to work to restore power in several areas of northern Manitoba after the weekend snowstorm. “Fallen trees caused significant damage, including more than 150 reports of downed power lines,” Chura said. “We were finding more damage today, as crews worked their way through affected areas.“Crews from Brandon and Selkirk have been added to the restoration effort in the north, the goal is to have all customers restored by 8 p.m. tonight, but it’s possible some restoration work will carry over to tomorrow. A power outage in the Opaskwayak Cree Nation that began after the storm also saw that community issue a 24-hour state of emergency beginning on Monday afternoon, but in an update on the community’s Facebook page council said power has been restored to the majority of Hydro customers in the community. Power also remained out in and around the community of Swan River on Tuesday, according to Chura, but he said they expect that to be back up and running by around 8 p.m. on Tuesday. ABOUT THE AUTHORDave Baxter is an award-winning reporter and editor currently working for CBC Manitoba. Born and raised in Winnipeg, he has also previously reported for the Winnipeg Sun and the Winnipeg Free Press, as well as several rural Manitoba publications.With files from Brittany Greenslade
Extended power outage leads to state of emergency in Nisichawayasihk Cree Nation
