Some residents with medical needs are being taken out of Peguis First Nation

PEGUIS — Some residents with medical needs were being taken out of Peguis First Nation on Tuesday in advance of anticipated flooding that could wash out roads and threaten more than 200 homes.

People with certain medical conditions and mobility concerns, as well as those who require ongoing medical treatment, were being offered a trip out in case the rising Fisher River cuts off road access to the community 180 kilometres north of Winnipeg.

“The river has come up slightly, but we are experiencing warmer weather today again, so … we’re just monitoring day by day, hour by hour,” Chief Stan Bird said in an interview.

Those leaving the community were offered hotel rooms in Selkirk.

The community has been sandbagging since last week, due to forecasts that have warned a very bad flood is possible if certain weather conditions — a fast melt combined with heavy rain — occur in the coming days.

More than half a million sandbags have been sent to Peguis First Nation and the nearby Fisher River Cree Nation, provincial officials said earlier this week.

There are no current plans to evacuate more people from the First Nation, but leaders in Peguis are preparing for the possibility.

Tents and teepees have been set up inside the community’s arena complex. Lisa Naylor, the provincial minister responsible for emergency management, said that will give families with children some space and privacy that might not be available elsewhere in large shelters.

The community, considered the largest First Nation in Manitoba, has more than 10,000 members. Data from the federal government suggests roughly 3,800 live on the reserve.

Peguis First Nation has dealt with several floods in recent decades. In 2022, hundreds of homes were damaged and some 2,000 residents were forced to flee.

The community was relocated in 1907 — from good farming land close to Winnipeg to its current location on a flood-prone river delta — under a surrender of land to the federal government later deemed illegal.

Peguis leadership has long called for permanent flood protection. Winnipeg and many other communities are protected by diversion channels or ring dikes.

Bird said there have been some positive conversations with the Manitoba and federal governments, and that something could be in the works for as early as this summer.

“I want some permanent solution for our community,” Bird said.

“There’s absolutely no reason we should be experiencing this year in, year out.”

This report by The Canadian Press was first published April 21, 2026.

— By Steve Lambert in Winnipeg

The Canadian Press