Wildfires in Alberta | Indigenous community ravaged by flames

(Sturgeon Lake) A row of charred homes in the Aboriginal community of Sturgeon Lake, Alberta hides a grim reality. First Nations are disproportionately affected by wildfires across the country.

The flames quickly ravaged the residences located in the forest, leaving behind piles of ash and twisted metal. It was May 5, exactly three weeks ago. “A lot of our elders live here. They lost all their photos, laments Frank Noskye. Some people didn’t have time to take much. »

It leads us on muddy and bumpy roads, swollen by the torrential rains that fell on the region at the beginning of the week. Frank and his companion Shelton Goodswimmer are part of the team that provides security on the deserted reserve while waiting for the residents to return.

The community of Sturgeon Lake is located over 350 kilometers northwest of Edmonton. This is where some of the evacuees found refuge. Others have temporarily taken up residence in hotels in Grande Prairie, less than 100 kilometers to the west.

The band council was preparing for the arrival of the 1,600 evacuees on Thursday. Those whose house was still intact have already started to come back, the others will come back during the weekend. Workers were busy installing 50 mobile homes for people who have lost their homes and for firefighters who will continue to fight forest fires all summer.

In all, 46 buildings burned at Sturgeon Lake, including 38 residences.

Volunteer firefighters from the reserve managed to save some residences. Their garden hoses remained on the ground, ready to be used if the flames flared up again. A tank truck was still enthroned along the road in the middle of the reserve when we passed, surrounded by charred vegetation. The destroyed houses were mostly located in the middle of the woods, which made them more vulnerable to the flames which were rapidly gaining ground.

First Nations heavily affected

Wildfires like the one that swept through Sturgeon Lake disproportionately affect First Nations, according to the National Risk Profile released by the federal government just two weeks ago.

This first report describes the risks caused by natural disasters, which are more and more frequent from east to west. It says that Indigenous people represent 5% of the population of Canada, but suffer 42% of evacuations related to forest fires. “Over the past 20 years, some indigenous communities have been evacuated up to five times” because they were threatened by the flames.

In Alberta, more than 5,300 First Nations people were still under evacuation orders Thursday, according to data from the federal Department of Indigenous Services. The province is having a “record season,” according to Alberta Wildfire spokesperson Christie Tucker, with more than one million hectares of forest burned to date compared to 450 hectares at the same time last year.

But British Columbia, Saskatchewan and Manitoba are also grappling with fires, bringing the total number of First Nations evacuees nationwide to 8,500.

“Climate change is leading to longer fire seasons and more intense and frequent wildfires,” the federal government report said.

Patience

“I had never seen that,” says Frank Noskye in Sturgeon Lake. The 53-year-old has always lived in his community.

The victims will have to be patient since the reconstruction may take time. The band council intends to use its insurance and programs offered by the federal government to replace lost homes, said its leader, Sheldon Sunshine.

In the meantime, he can use the Department of Indigenous Services’ Emergency Management Assistance Program to meet his immediate needs. A community administration official told The Press that things were going smoothly so far.

Alberta had 55 active fires Thursday, 16 of which were still considered out of control. Seven evacuation orders were still in effect, but the number of people affected has dropped to around 5,000. At the height of the crisis in early May, 30,000 people had to be evacuated.