This ornamental fountain and plaque in the median of Broadway west of Donald Street was presented to the City of Winnipeg in October 1970 by the M.E.P.C. Group of Companies and the Metropolitan Corporation of Greater Winnipeg to commemorate the Centenary of Manitoba and the fiftieth anniversary of the first supply of water from Shoal Lake to the metropolitan area.
In the early 1900s, Winnipeg, then Canada's third-largest city, was booming and in need of a reliable source of clean water.
Shoal Lake on the Ontario-Manitoba border was identified as both safe and geographically accessible via the construction of 135-kilometre aqueduct running downhill to the city of Winnipeg. In 1915, the City of Winnipeg got approval to draw water from Shoal Lake from the Ontario government.
With little regard for the area's indigenous inhabitants, land was expropriated from what is now the Shoal Lake 40 First Nation for the construction of a water intake, which required digging a canal that cut off the community from the mainland. Shoal Lake 40 First Nation has been on an island ever since. Just 15 kilometres off the Trans-Canada Highway, today it remains accessible only by boat in the summer and an ice road in winter. For decades, Winnipeg fought all efforts to build a road to Shoal Lake, fearing development would threaten its water supply. The resulting isolation has made the cost of building a water treatment plant prohibitive.
While the Shoal Lake 40 First Nation sends water to Winnipeg, it's been on a boil-water advisory since December 2000.
The Shoal Lake 40 First Nation, on the Manitoba-Ontario border, is finally getting its road, Freedom Road, a step toward ending years of isolation.
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Photo: http://www.mhs.mb.ca/docs/sites/shoallakewatersupply.shtml