Contractor that left new Brandon school unfinished abandons dozens of incomplete houses in Lake St. Martin

The same company that abruptly left a school project unfinished in Brandon also abandoned work on dozens of housing units it was contracted to build in Lake St. Martin First Nation, says the chief of the community.

Fresh Projects landed a multi-million dollar contract to build hundreds of housing units in the First Nation, which faced community-wide evacuations and was devastated by the 2011 flood.

Last week, the companystopped work on the 70 remaining housing units, including apartment units, according toIndigenous Services Canada. Lake St. Martin Chief Adrian Sinclair said the number of unfinished units is closer to 30.

"It was news to me," said Sinclair.

"My only concern was the evacuees' housing, and I was very pleased with the job that was done from Fresh buildings, but unfortunately they had to claim bankruptcy."

CBC News left a number of messages with staff at Fresh Projects last week but hasn't heard back. The company's Instagram accountand its website were offline as ofTuesday, and the Fresh Facebook page was dead as of Wednesday.

A lawyer listed as representing executives at Fresh in a January 2020 Manitoba Court of Queen's Bench document refused to confirm whether he still currently represents the company.

Members of the federal agency met with the Manitoba government and Lake St. Martin leadership on Wednesday where it was confirmed the contractor had left the construction site.

The Brandon School Division confirmed on Tuesday that work on Maryland Park School also stopped Monday after it was notified Fresh Projects walked off the job.

That project was slated to be complete and ready for class for 450 students in September 2020, but the province and division now say that timeline is up in the air.

A group that represents ruralsubcontractors and construction workers is wondering what happened.

"We have several members involved in the project and hope that they will not be impacted by this news," said Karen Roe, executive directorwith the Construction Association of Rural Manitoba.

"We hope the delay is temporary but know the complexity with large capital projects can be high."

Thousands of people were forced from Lake St. Martin, Little Saskatchewan, Pinaymootang and Dauphin River First Nations due to the 2011 flood.

The disaster resulted from water being diverted from the Assiniboine River into Lake Manitoba as a way of lessening flood risks in Winnipeg.

The four First Nations won a $90-million settlement from the federal and Manitoba governments in 2017,with compensation beginning to flow to about 7,000 people in 2019, eight years after the flood.

Some evacuees moved back in 2017 when the first wave of homes were completed.

Indigenous Services Canada said so far 475 have returned to Lake St. Martin.

Lake St. Martin also took the federal government to court early this year after Ottawa cut off evacuee benefits.

"Kind of left the members high and dry that are evacuees," said Sinclair.

Lake St. Martin signed a construction deal to build 350 housing units, including 40 apartment units, with costs being shared by the Manitoba and federal governments. An Indigenous Services Canada spokesperson said 280 of those were completed as of December.

Sinclair said the first 190 housing unitscost about $54 million to build, followed by about $36 million for the next 130 units.

Lake St. Martin's project management team is in the process of accessing a performance bond, which may provide the First Nation with certainprotections in light of the circumstances, said an Indigenous Services Canada spokesperson.

Sinclair said there are subcontractors out $500,000 and others with outstanding construction work bills who will get paid.

He said a new primary contractor will be brought in to finish the job, but he couldn't say when construction would resume.

"Nothing is going to develop that fast," said Sinclair.

In the meantime, Sinclair said the First Nation has hired security to watch over the job sites and construction materials over concerns of thefts.

Have more information about this story or other Fresh Projects construction contracts? Send us an email.