REGINA – Several First Nations have declared a state of emergency in advance of possible flooding in the coming weeks. They are still waiting for relief money they requested three years ago and they want to draw attention to several health issues they’re dealing with from floods in the past. Many of the First Nations say people in their communities are now living with black mold in their homes.
So Edmund Bellegarde and other Saskatchewan chiefs are on their way to Ottawa to meet with the aboriginal affairs minister. They say the Provincial Disaster Assistance Program – known as PDAP, isn’t working for First Nations.
“They’ve been very frustrated with the level of remediation and recovery of costs caused by flooding damage going back to 2010,” said Bellegarde, chairperson of the File Hills Qu’Appelle Tribal Council.
The council represents eleven First Nations – many of them hard hit by flooding in 2011 and many of them are still waiting for millions of dollars of relief money even when neighbouring communities have already been paid out.
“Some of this is bordering on discriminatory practice,” said Bellegarde, adding, “Our leaders are calling on the assistance of the Human Rights Commission to address some of these issues where it’s an unlevel playing field and a two-tiered rate system.”
However, the minister says there is absolutely no chance of discrimination.
“First Nations PDAP claims are handled like any claims for any community in the province,” said Minister of Government Relations, Jim Reiter.
Some advance claims have been paid out, but there are still many final payments outstanding. Reiter believes the problem stems from improper documentation.
“When I saw this yesterday, I was extremely concerned,” Reiter said. “I’ve asked our PDAP officials to contact each of the First Nations in that tribal council area and offer assistance in any way they can to expedite the documentation.”
The File Hills Qu’Appelle Tribal Council wants to see the province cut out of the process entirely. However, that seems unlikely to happen. The federal ministry said the federal government reimburses the province because it already has a process in place and the infrastructure set up to deal with disasters.
Comments