The Saguenay-Lac-Saint-Jean Native Friendship Centers — or Mamik Centers — are going out of their way to welcome the evacuees from Oujé-Bougoumou and Obedjiwan, deploying impressive logistics to accommodate the displaced and their children. — without, however, having the same collaboration from one city to another.
Evacuees from Obedjiwan took possession of the Château Roberval: the hotel, since Tuesday, is full and about 75% of its 124 rooms house displaced people from this Atikamekw community located 300 km west of the city.
In all, more than 325 people had to leave homes, husbands and friends to take refuge on the shores of Lac-Saint-Jean. The fire, for now, does not threaten Obedjiwan, but several fires are burning around the community. The uncomfortable smoke forced the evacuation of those in precarious health.
The band council reserved the rooms and bused the evacuees. Some of them sleep in hotels, others with relatives or in Atikamekw homes, places of passage assigned, in normal times, to patients passing through Roberval to receive care.
“For the moment, in Obedjiwan, only the most vulnerable people have been evacuated: pregnant women, children, the sick, seniors…”, lists Lise Savard, coordinator of the Mamik Center in Alma. Met at the Château Roberval, it is she who directs the impressive reception of the displaced people of Obedjiwan.
Every day, its staff will inquire about the needs in each accommodation site and coordinate efforts to relieve them. “We have good collaboration with all the partners,” says Lise Savard.
“We have shuttles that pick up the children every morning from the different places where they are,” she explains. The youngest converge on the Roberval Native Friendship Center where a babysitting service is organized every afternoon. The oldest, those aged 6 to 12, meet at Château Roberval where supervised activities await them every day.
On Thursday afternoon, around forty young people had a great time in the hotel’s bowling alley under the supervision of a trio of entertainers. Upstairs, some took obvious pleasure in enjoying the swimming pool while others preferred the crafts and reading offered in a meeting room.
“The objective is to free up parents so that they can get what they have lost and what they need,” explains Lise Savard. Then leaving kids all day in a hotel room wouldn’t make sense either. »
Friday, the clowns of the troupe Les Fous du Roi were to come and entertain the gallery. “We will continue to offer this kind of service, specifies the coordinator, as long as it is necessary”.
“Certain difficulties” in Ville de Saguenay
In the City of Saguenay, the Cree evacuees from Oujé-Bougoumou found refuge at the Cégep de Chicoutimi and at UQAC. The entire community had to leave on Tuesday evening, almost at the same time as Chibougamau.
“In general, things are going really well,” says Mayor Julie Dufour. We welcomed more than 400 people. If necessary, she explains, a third reception center could be set up at the Georges-Vézina centre.
The Saguenay Native Friendship Center tries somehow to welcome the evacuees as well as in Roberval, but deplores a lack of communication with the City.
“I sent messages and emails everywhere, without ever getting a return,” laments Mélanie Boivin, general manager of the Center Mamik du Lac-Saint-Jean, who was passing through the City of Saguenay on Thursday to lend a hand. -strong to his colleagues.
The situation “causes certain difficulties,” she adds. “I wouldn’t say racism, but let’s say there isn’t too much sensitivity. »
Mélanie Boivin reports that some members of the reception staff present at the Cégep de Chicoutimi would have raised their voices towards Aboriginal evacuees – an allegation that The duty could not confirm.
The Mayor of the City of Saguenay is surprised by this accusation, assuring that such a situation “did not come to mind at all. [s]is aware. »
“I’m really confident that our people are adapting and responding to people in the community. Can there be friction? Definitely, says Julie Dufour. It’s not a vacation week: they are evacuated, they are in fear of what will happen with the fires, but our people are used to dealing with people who live with anxiety. »
Thursday evening, the City claimed to have set up a recreation committee which was preparing to plan activities to occupy the evacuees. “The time, for them, is still long! says the mayor, adding that sports activities or city tours are being organized “soon” to keep them occupied.