As part of the federal government’s 2024 wildfire outlook, Indigenous Services Minister Patty Hajdu said all Alberta First Nations will have an emergency co-ordinator position to help plan for and respond to wildfires.
“This year, all 48 First Nations in Alberta will have a funded emergency manager co-ordinator position,” she said. “This dedicated person will help them co-ordinate their work to prepare for and to face wildfires.
“With these additions, there are now 248 such co-ordinators across the country, funded and paid for, giving communities a central organization that can make a huge difference in both planning and preparing but also in responding to fire emergencies.”
She said nearly 80 per cent of First Nation communities are at risk due to wildfire.
Conroy Sewepagaham, chief of Little Red River Cree First Nation in northern Alberta, says any help is welcome.
“It’s timely,” he said. “My question is: how will this look like in terms of implementing those funds with First Nations, especially our First Nation, and if it’s going to be continuous or if it’s a one-time thing?”
Little Red River covers Fox Lake, which is about 180 kilometres east of High Level. The community was evacuated multiple times last summer because of wildfire.
“I’ve lost count, to be honest with you, in terms of how many times we had to evacuate,” Sewepagaham said. “In terms of co-ordination, thankfully our staff and our nation membership stepped up. I think we learned quite a bit from the flooding that took place in one of our other communities back in 2018-19.”
He said the community even had to declare a local state of emergency in the winter because a fire continued to burn under the snow and their access in and out of the area was restricted even more than it usually is. Releases of water upstream impacted their usual winter ice crossings.
Infrastructure support is the biggest need right now, the chief said.
“We have nearly 7,000 people leading up to our communities, and in northern Alberta, it’s one of the longest unpaved roads. Little things like that make a world of difference.”
The area is incredibly isolated, he explained. Getting goods and services across — not to mention people out in an emergency — is difficult.
“In Fox Lake we only have an ice bridge in the wintertime, if the weather is participating with us. In the summertime, we do have a few barges to get across and ferry goods and services,” Sewepagaham said. “But even that lately … hauling goods and services to our community of Fox Lake has been arduous, to say the least.”
Last summer, they got 3,700 people out within 72 hours. In the end, they lost 475 “infrastructure units,” including 100 homes, to wildfire.
“It may be 100 homes, but we’re also including large temporary shelters that our community members had to build around their main homes,” Sewepagaham explained. “So when you factor it in … the national occupancy standard for Albertans is 2.7 people per home. For our community of Fox Lake, you can have upwards of seven to up to 30 people per home.”
Because of the access issues, the only time they can bring in homes, lumber, heavy equipment or fuel is in the winter.
“We can have the co-ordinators, but if the co-ordinators don’t have the equipment or the infrastructure to help co-ordinate these evacuations or help co-ordinate these emergencies, it would be someone to do paperwork,” Sewepagaham said.
“I’m hoping it’s not a repeat of last year, but based on what we’re seeing on the ground, it seems like it’s going to be worse this year.
“Anxiety levels are way up there and (constituents) are worried that there might be Paskwa Part 2 and we’re hoping that doesn’t happen.”
Grand Chief Cody Thomas of the Confederacy of Treaty 6 First Nations sent Global News a statement after the announcement was made and said that “while funding an emergency management co-ordinator position for Alberta First Nations is a good idea, the policy process to access programs and resources is too slow, bureaucratic and reactive.”
“Nations will still need to go through a lengthy application process to receive resources at a time when real-time emergencies could be around the corner,” he said. “What is truly needed — and will have real impact — is dedicated and appropriate funding.
“Emergency management needs to be funded as an essential service. The program funding model currently in place is dependent on repeated applications and subject to political will.”
Thomas said First Nations have the personnel “willing and ready to protect their communities” but there is a long-overlooked need for funding for training and equipment in those communities.
He added that he believes it is “equally important to ensure First Nation-led initiatives are included to respect and acknowledge Indigenous safety strategies, wildlife management practices and traditional ecological knowledge.”
“This is important both in terms of preparedness and reconciliation.”
The federal government is also providing advance payments to communities across Canada so that instead of reimbursing wildfire costs, First Nations can prepare infrastructure and evacuation plans ahead of time.
“On average, First Nations face 52 wildfire emergencies every year,” Hajdu explained. “But last year, 161 fires threatened their safety and 90 First Nations were evacuated.”
An Indigenous Emergency Management Working Group has been created to hear and address Indigenous emergency management issues and needs.
“Public safety will work with the newly established Indigenous Emergency Management Working Group,” Hajdu said. “The group met for the first time in February and will help co-ordinate support for Indigenous communities while incorporating Indigenous knowledge in firefighting.
“Communities know best what they need to manage wildfires, so we are working with them to build their capacity in a self-determinate way and are implementing traditional knowledge into our strategies.”
Last year was a historic wildfire season in Canada. The federal government released its forecast and early modelling of weather trends for 2024, which indicate Canada might see another catastrophic fire season.
A briefing document forecasting the fire risk for the spring shows conditions are already ripe this year for an early and above-normal fire risk from Quebec all the way to British Columbia in both April and May.
The forecast is based on having had a warmer-than-normal winter with minimal snow and widespread drought, particularly in the Prairies. There is also a high probability of above-normal temperatures in April, May and June.
There are already about 70 fires burning, mainly in B.C., Alberta and the Northwest Territories. Most of those are actually fires that started in 2023, smouldered underground throughout the winter and have since re-emerged.
— with files from Heather Yourex-West, Global News and Mia Rabson, The Canadian Press