The provincial government announced April 26 that it is agreeing to sell the Grace Lake Airport in The Pas and 373 acres of Crown land to an Indigenous ownership group that includes Mathias Colomb Cree Nation (MCCN) at Pukatawagan.
The airport, currently owned and operated by Manitoba Infrastructure, and the land on which it sits, administered by Manitoba Sustainable Development under the Crown Lands Act, will be sold to MCCN, Beaver Air Services Limited Partnership and Missinippi Management Ltd. for its appraised value. MCCN will be required to secure an airport operating certificate from Transport Canada. The new owners will be required to make the airport available for delivery of public services including medevac and air ambulance flights.
“The transfer of the Grace Lake Airport to a community-based company, owned and operated by a First Nations entity, means the real benefits of this agreement will stay in the community for a long time,” Premier Brian Pallister said in a press release. “We believe very strongly in Mathias Colomb Cree Nation and its companies, in their ability to continue to bring real economic benefits to the people of their community.”
“We thank the Manitoba government for the opportunity to ensure the ownership of the Grace Lake Airport remains in the community,” said MCCN Chief Lorna Bighetty. “We look forward to continuing to work with the government and our partners to keep the economic benefits of this agreement right here at home.”
