{"id":102020,"date":"2026-02-16T14:59:10","date_gmt":"2026-02-16T19:59:10","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/theturtleislandnews.com\/?p=102020"},"modified":"2026-02-16T14:59:10","modified_gmt":"2026-02-16T19:59:10","slug":"first-nation-buys-own-backup-generators-saying-governments-and-utility-failed-them","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/theturtleislandnews.com\/index.php\/2026\/02\/16\/first-nation-buys-own-backup-generators-saying-governments-and-utility-failed-them\/","title":{"rendered":"First Nation buys own backup generators, saying governments and utility failed them"},"content":{"rendered":"<p>A Manitoba First Nation whose residents were evacuated for months last summer due to a wildfire and an extended power outage says it has bought its own backup generators, after it says governments and the province&#8217;s Crown-owned electric utility failed them. The Mathias Colomb Cree Nation says it has moved forward, on its own, to arrange private financing for the $8-million purchase of generators it says were meant to be installed last summer to bring wildfire evacuees home. More than 2,000 residents of the First Nation, in northwestern Manitoba, remained evacuated for 128 days due to an extended Manitoba Hydro outage that the community says the backup generators would have resolved. In a news release, Mathias Colomb Chief Gordie Bear chastised Canada and Manitoba for not supporting or cost-sharing the&#8230; <\/p>\n<div class=\"pmpro\">\n<div class=\"pmpro_card pmpro_content_message\">\n<div class=\"pmpro_card_content\">This content is for Yearly Subscription, Yearly Subscription &#8211; Corporate, Print Subscription Only, and Canada Print and Online members only.<br \/><a href=\"http:\/\/theturtleislandnews.com\/wp-login.php?action=register\">Register<\/a><\/div>\n<div class=\"pmpro_card_actions pmpro_font-medium\">Already a member? <a href=\"https:\/\/theturtleislandnews.com\/wp-login.php?redirect_to=https%3A%2F%2Ftheturtleislandnews.com%2Findex.php%2F2026%2F02%2F16%2Ffirst-nation-buys-own-backup-generators-saying-governments-and-utility-failed-them%2F\">Log in here<\/a><\/div>\n<\/div>\n<\/div>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"<p>A Manitoba First Nation whose residents were evacuated for months last summer due to a wildfire and an extended power outage says it has bought its own backup generators, after it says governments and the province&#8217;s Crown-owned electric utility failed them. The Mathias Colomb Cree Nation says it has moved forward, on its own, to arrange private financing for the $8-million purchase of generators it says were meant to be installed last summer to bring wildfire evacuees home. More than 2,000 residents of the First Nation, in northwestern Manitoba, remained evacuated for 128 days due to an extended Manitoba Hydro outage that the community says the backup generators would have resolved. In a news release, Mathias Colomb Chief Gordie Bear chastised Canada and Manitoba for not supporting or cost-sharing the... <\/p>\n<div class=\"pmpro\"><div class=\"pmpro_card pmpro_content_message\"><div class=\"pmpro_card_content\">This content is for Yearly Subscription, Yearly Subscription - Corporate, Print Subscription Only, and Canada Print and Online members only.<br \/><a href=\"http:\/\/theturtleislandnews.com\/wp-login.php?action=register\">Register<\/a><\/div><div class=\"pmpro_card_actions pmpro_font-medium\">Already a member? <a href=\"https:\/\/theturtleislandnews.com\/wp-login.php?redirect_to=https%3A%2F%2Ftheturtleislandnews.com%2Findex.php%2F2026%2F02%2F16%2Ffirst-nation-buys-own-backup-generators-saying-governments-and-utility-failed-them%2F\">Log in here<\/a><\/div><\/div><\/div>","protected":false},"author":101363,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"pmpro_default_level":"","footnotes":""},"categories":[8,13],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-102020","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","hentry","category-national-news","category-ticker","pmpro-level-required","pmpro-level-3","pmpro-level-2","pmpro-level-5","pmpro-level-4","pmpro-level-6","pmpro-level-7","pmpro-no-access"],"yoast_head":"<!-- This site is optimized with the Yoast SEO plugin v27.4 - https:\/\/yoast.com\/product\/yoast-seo-wordpress\/ -->\n<title>First Nation buys own backup generators, saying governments and utility failed them - The Turtle Island News<\/title>\n<meta name=\"robots\" content=\"index, follow, max-snippet:-1, max-image-preview:large, max-video-preview:-1\" \/>\n<link rel=\"canonical\" href=\"https:\/\/theturtleislandnews.com\/index.php\/2026\/02\/16\/first-nation-buys-own-backup-generators-saying-governments-and-utility-failed-them\/\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:locale\" content=\"en_US\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:type\" content=\"article\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:title\" content=\"First Nation buys own backup generators, saying governments and utility failed them - The Turtle Island News\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:description\" content=\"A Manitoba First Nation whose residents were evacuated for months last summer due to a wildfire and an extended power outage says it has bought its own backup generators, after it says governments and the province&#8217;s Crown-owned electric utility failed them. The Mathias Colomb Cree Nation says it has moved forward, on its own, to arrange private financing for the $8-million purchase of generators it says were meant to be installed last summer to bring wildfire evacuees home. More than 2,000 residents of the First Nation, in northwestern Manitoba, remained evacuated for 128 days due to an extended Manitoba Hydro outage that the community says the backup generators would have resolved. In a news release, Mathias Colomb Chief Gordie Bear chastised Canada and Manitoba for not supporting or cost-sharing the\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:url\" content=\"https:\/\/theturtleislandnews.com\/index.php\/2026\/02\/16\/first-nation-buys-own-backup-generators-saying-governments-and-utility-failed-them\/\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:site_name\" content=\"The Turtle Island News\" \/>\n<meta property=\"article:publisher\" content=\"https:\/\/www.facebook.com\/TurtleIslandNews\/\" \/>\n<meta property=\"article:published_time\" content=\"2026-02-16T19:59:10+00:00\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:image\" content=\"https:\/\/theturtleislandnews.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2016\/01\/facebooklogo.jpg\" \/>\n\t<meta property=\"og:image:width\" content=\"725\" \/>\n\t<meta property=\"og:image:height\" content=\"483\" \/>\n\t<meta property=\"og:image:type\" content=\"image\/jpeg\" \/>\n<meta name=\"author\" content=\"Lynda Powless\" \/>\n<meta name=\"twitter:card\" content=\"summary_large_image\" \/>\n<meta name=\"twitter:creator\" content=\"@newsattheturtle\" \/>\n<meta name=\"twitter:site\" content=\"@newsattheturtle\" \/>\n<meta name=\"twitter:label1\" content=\"Written by\" \/>\n\t<meta name=\"twitter:data1\" content=\"Lynda Powless\" \/>\n\t<meta name=\"twitter:label2\" content=\"Est. reading time\" \/>\n\t<meta name=\"twitter:data2\" content=\"3 minutes\" \/>\n<script type=\"application\/ld+json\" class=\"yoast-schema-graph\">{\"@context\":\"https:\\\/\\\/schema.org\",\"@graph\":[{\"@type\":\"Article\",\"@id\":\"https:\\\/\\\/theturtleislandnews.com\\\/index.php\\\/2026\\\/02\\\/16\\\/first-nation-buys-own-backup-generators-saying-governments-and-utility-failed-them\\\/#article\",\"isPartOf\":{\"@id\":\"https:\\\/\\\/theturtleislandnews.com\\\/index.php\\\/2026\\\/02\\\/16\\\/first-nation-buys-own-backup-generators-saying-governments-and-utility-failed-them\\\/\"},\"author\":{\"name\":\"Lynda Powless\",\"@id\":\"https:\\\/\\\/theturtleislandnews.com\\\/#\\\/schema\\\/person\\\/7b188fd7503577895ef8b306988cd458\"},\"headline\":\"First Nation buys own backup generators, saying governments and utility failed them\",\"datePublished\":\"2026-02-16T19:59:10+00:00\",\"mainEntityOfPage\":{\"@id\":\"https:\\\/\\\/theturtleislandnews.com\\\/index.php\\\/2026\\\/02\\\/16\\\/first-nation-buys-own-backup-generators-saying-governments-and-utility-failed-them\\\/\"},\"wordCount\":473,\"publisher\":{\"@id\":\"https:\\\/\\\/theturtleislandnews.com\\\/#organization\"},\"articleSection\":[\"National News\",\"ticker\"],\"inLanguage\":\"en-CA\"},{\"@type\":\"WebPage\",\"@id\":\"https:\\\/\\\/theturtleislandnews.com\\\/index.php\\\/2026\\\/02\\\/16\\\/first-nation-buys-own-backup-generators-saying-governments-and-utility-failed-them\\\/\",\"url\":\"https:\\\/\\\/theturtleislandnews.com\\\/index.php\\\/2026\\\/02\\\/16\\\/first-nation-buys-own-backup-generators-saying-governments-and-utility-failed-them\\\/\",\"name\":\"First Nation buys own backup generators, saying governments and utility failed them - 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