BR Manitoba Flood Settlement – CP

Source: The Canadian Press – Broadcast wire
Jan 13, 2018 

WINNIPEG – A judge has approved a 90-million-dollar settlement to residents of four Manitoba Indigenous communities that were flooded in 2011.

The ruling resolves a class-action lawsuit filed by members of the Lake St Martin, Dauphin River, Little Saskatchewan and Pinaymootang First Nations.

About seven-thousand people were forced to leave their homes when the province diverted the Assiniboine River to reduce the risk of flooding in Winnipeg.

Justice James Edmond says the settlement is reasonable and offers a faster resolution than proceeding to trial.

Some of the plaintiffs are happy with the deal, but others say the compensation plan is deeply flawed.

Geraldine Beardy from Lake St. Martin says it shortchanges her community, which was hardest hit.

Individual payments will vary, but any adult who was displaced is likely to receive between 42-thousand and 67-thousand dollars as a basic amount.

Additional amounts are available for people who lost personal property, income or who faced increased health costs.

(The Canadian Press)

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