A tribal council representing five First Nations in northwestern Ontario said the first batch of local medical emergency responders from the new training program had graduated and would serve First Nations Pikangikum.
The Independent First Nations Alliance says it has created its own training program for emergency responders to help the remote communities it represents respond to devastating fires, such as the two in Pikangikum in the last seven years.
“As the community works for healing, we at the Independent First Nations Alliance (IFNA), the Pikangikum Tribal Council, have stepped up while the system catches up,” said Mathew Hoppe, CEO of the alliance, wrote in a statement.
Pikangikum, which is located more than 500 kilometers north of Thunder Bay, Ontario, said it felt helpless after nine people died in a 2016 house fire and three died in a community fire in February this year.
In both cases, Pikangikum said it had not trained first responders to fight the fires and members of the public did their best to help but ended up having to watch the house burn.
In the fire last February, Pikangikum Chief Shirley Keeper said the two fire trucks that were supposed to help fight the fire froze because the community lacked adequate buildings to protect vehicles in the freezing temperatures.
Keeper said Pikangikum now hopes the safer community that results from having local first responders will help honor the memory of those who died.
“Bureaucratic and jurisdictional challenges, as well as a lack of community resources, have delayed this effort,” Keeper said in a written statement.
“Fire Service is a critical issue in many First Nation communities. We put our faith in those who are helping us recover from this tragedy.”
The first wave of graduates received an award at the Pikangikum First Nation last week.
The alliance said in a statement that Indigenous Services Canada is also working to help install smoke alarms in homes throughout the northwestern region.
“Talks have resumed regarding funding for a proper fire station and equipment to serve the remote community of nearly 4,000 people,” he added.
A 2021 Statistics Canada report commissioned by the National Indigenous Fire Safety Council found that First Nations people living in reserves are about 10 times more likely to die in a fire than non-Indigenous Canadians.
In January, a 10-year-old girl died after a house fire in Weenusk First Nation, a northern community in Peawanuck, Ont.
Several other Ontairo communities have also had to grapple with deadly house fires over the last decade.
That includes First Nations Sandy Lake, where three children died in a fire in January 2022. First Nations Mishkeegogamang, meanwhile, lost four residents in 2014, including two young children.
This report by The Canadian Press was first published on April 3, 2023.
Fakiha Baig, Canadian Press
