Manitoba

Shoal Lake 40 'Freedom Road' fundraiser falls $9.9M short of goal

A crowdfunding campaign to pay Ottawa's portion of an all-weather road for a reserve under one of the longest boil-water advisories in Canada has ended.

Crowdfunding campaign to pay Ottawa's portion of road for isolated reserve ends

Rick Harp launched a crowdfunding campaign to raise $10 million to build an all-weather road linking the Shoal Lake 40 First Nation to the mainland. The campaign ended Aug. 29 and fell considerably short of its goal. (CBC)

A crowdfunding campaign to pay Ottawa's portion of an all-weather road for a reserve under one of the longest boil-water advisories in Canada has ended.

The fundraising campaign fell short of its $10-million goal — it garnered $101,000 from just over 1,000 donors.

The campaign intended to raise enough money to pay the federal government's share of a permanent road for the Shoal Lake 40 First Nation on the Manitoba-Ontario boundary.

The reserve was cut off from the mainland a century ago during construction of an aqueduct to send clean water to Winnipeg.

The community has been under a boil-water advisory for 17 years.

Rick Harp, who organized the crowdfunder, said the fight for Shoal Lake 40 will continue until the reserve gets justice.