The Anisininew Okimawin Grand Council and leaders from Garden Hill First Nation declared a regional public health emergency on July 9, 2026, for four fly-in communities in Manitoba’s Island Lake region. The declaration, which covers Garden Hill, Red Sucker Lake, St. Theresa Point, and Wasagamack, points to a growing crisis of toxic drugs, overdoses, rising HIV and hepatitis C infections, and homelessness affecting roughly 17,000 people.
Since 2017, 93 HIV diagnoses have been recorded across the four communities. Garden Hill itself declared an HIV outbreak in January 2026, with 11 new diagnoses in the community since the start of 2025. Just 15.2 per cent of Garden Hill’s population has been tested during the outbreak, and of those diagnosed, only about half are receiving treatment. As well, 45.5 per cent of HIV clients in Garden Hill have an unsuppressed viral load.
St. Theresa Point has recorded 63 HIV infections, 163 hepatitis C infections, and 449 syphilis infections since 2017, including 27 new HIV diagnoses since January 2025. On June 9, 2026, the community saw its first newly diagnosed AIDS case. “Garden Hill is not asking to be rescued. We are asking to be resourced,” said Councillor Harvey Little of Garden Hill Anisininew Nation.
The emergency declaration is a formal call for more targeted resources and improved health service coordination. Leaders are pushing for sustained multi-year funding for the Manitoba Anisininew Mobile Addictions Network (MAMAN), run by Four Arrows Regional Health Authority. Since September 2025, MAMAN has started 109 opioid agonist treatment cases, supported nearly 400 patient engagements, and handed out 364 harm-reduction supplies – but about 60 people remain on a waitlist in Garden Hill alone.
Housing also fuels the crisis. Over 1,500 people are on waiting lists across the four First Nations, and a Federal Court ruling last year found one in four homes in St. Theresa Point is uninhabitable. The declaration asks for investment in a regional hospital, housing repairs, land-based healing, and First Nations policing. Leaders are seeking a meeting within 30 days with Premier Wab Kinew and federal representatives to form a treaty-based partnership.
The regional emergency follows Manitoba’s province-wide HIV public health emergency declared in May 2026. New HIV cases in the province rose to 328 in 2025 from 90 in 2019, at a rate of 21.6 per 100,000 — one of the highest in Canada. Grand Chief Alex McDougall of the Anisininew Okimawin Grand Council said the communities need more than words. “The era of crisis response must end, and the era of prevention, partnership, and Anisininew-led care must begin,” he said, reflecting frustration that help has been too slow for too long.
