BR Manitoba Indigenous Evictions – CP

Source: The Canadian Press – Broadcast wire
Aug 15, 2017 

WINNIPEG – A group of Indigenous families living in social housing say the Manitoba government is threatening to evict them at the end of the month.

About 100 members of the Waterhen First Nation have been living in Portage la Prairie since leaving the reserve following a dispute in 1996.

Bernadette Chartrand, who is 64, says she and her husband have serious health problems and don’t know what they will do if Sheriffs force them from their home.

A Manitoba government spokesman says the tenants have not been paying rent.

People in the community west of Winnipeg say 16 families have received eviction notices.

Manitoba Housing says the enforcement of the eviction orders must be executed by August 28th.

Donna Gabriel has lived in her Manitoba Housing unit since the displacement in 1996 and is a spokeswoman for the affected families.

She says the arrangement was supposed to be temporary and efforts to relocate her people stalled with federal and provincial governments.

Gabriel says the families want a long-term solution and for the federal government to intervene. (CTV Winnipeg)

(The Canadian Press)

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