The Other End of the Aquaduct
Linda Goes to Shoal Lake No. 40
The story, on the surface at least, is about water. In 1914 Winnipeg was the third-largest city in Canada, out-growing its rivers and wells for potable water. City fathers cast their eyes eastward, to Shoal Lake, for a solution. It was simple: build an aqueduct from Shoal Lake to Winnipeg, and let the water flow. The rest is history, right?
Winnipeg's decision had serious repercussions for the Shoal Lake #40 First Nations community. They were dispossessed of land that included ancestral burial grounds as well as their village at the mouth of the Falcon River. Forced to move to the adjacent peninsula, that peninsula was subsequently severed from the mainland by a canal diverting coloured Falcon River water away from Winnipeg's intake. The community has struggled with its man-made isolation ever since.
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