'Honour our agreement': Red River trail stencilled with messages in support of Shoal Lake 40

A series of messages that began appearing in blue stencilled ink on the ice of the on the Red River Mutual Trail on Saturday aim to make Winnipeggers think about where their water comes from.

"Remember the dear cost at the other end of the pipe," one says message, with the quote attributed to Stewart Redsky. 

"Got water? Thank Shoal Lake 40 First Nation" says another.

They're the work of the advocacy group Friends of Shoal Lake 40, which describes itself as "a network of students, faith communities, community organizers, and non-profit organizations" that advocates for the First Nation which was effectively made into an island more than 100 years ago, during construction of Winnipeg's aqueduct.

Winnipeg's tap water still comes from Shoal Lake.

Friends of Shoal Lake 40 chair Jeff Friesen said the stencils were given to the volunteer group and they wanted to find a creative way to put them to use. 

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"One of the things we think is really important is pushing back on some of the ways we often narrate the story of Winnipeg and Shoal Lake 40. There are monuments all over the city that celebrate the aqueduct, and no mention of some of the injustices that have occurred to the community at the other end of the pipe," Friesen said. 

"We're wanting to insert that part of the story into the way we represent the relationship kind of physically here." 

The quotes were just being written onto the ice and walking path Saturday afternoon as people rallied for the Walk for Human Rights. So far, Friesen said, people seem to be intrigued. 

"Our hope today is that people see us doing this and they ask us questions about what these statements are, and why we're doing this," he said. 

The messages are stencilled in food-grade ink, so in the spring they'll safely melt away, Friesen said. 

But some of the messages may stick with you. 

"There's this one that I keep coming back to," Friesen said, "by a young man from Shoal Lake 40, Dakota Redsky ... 'When I have kids and their kids have kids, I want my grandkids to have clean water to swim in.'" 

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While funding has been secured for Freedom Road, Friesen said part of the reason for doing this now is to encourage the three levels of government to honour agreements with Shoal Lake 40.

"The people of Shoal Lake 40 agreed to basically serve as water protectors for the people of Winnipeg, in exchange for economic opportunities," he said.

"So Freedom Road is just one part of that. ... There's still the lack of drinking water, and there's been no economic growth over the last 30-some years."