Thank you for the question, Mrs. Gill. It’s a very good one.
Indeed, in 2010, a violent forest fire ravaged the Manawan area. I remember that in 2010, it was hot in Quebec and in northern Ontario. The drought led to major forest fires. On May 30, a large forest fire was burning in our territory and forced the population to evacuate. We acted in a somewhat makeshift way, as we weren't prepared for such a situation.
At the time, there were so many forest fires in Quebec that the Société de protection des forêts contre le feu, or SOPFEU, the organization mandated to fight forest fires, had mobilized its human and material resources to other regions. However, we considered the forest fire near Manawan a serious threat to the safety of our members, as well as the village.
Given that SOPFEU and the provincial government couldn't deploy teams to come and tackle this devastating event, the community had no choice but to fight the forest fire on its own, since it didn't seem to be anyone else's priority. We organized ourselves with what means we had and our very limited resources, which are still limited today. The Council had to use the money from federal transfers to acquire equipment the community needed. We bought what are called Indian fire pumps, and we rented pumps to protect the territory and the community. It was hugely expensive.
When we sat down with government authorities, the Department of Indian Affairs at that time, it was extremely difficult. We were told that the money we had used to buy equipment to fight the forest fire wasn't part of the agreements, despite the fact that we had no other choice. We had to protect our community, and we decided to do it this way. It took a lot of negotiation to get the government to accept the invoices we sent them back then.
It was in fact extremely arduous for the Council to be fully reimbursed for equipment needed to fight the forest fires, even though our objective was to protect the community.
In the last two years, during the winter, in the midst of the pandemic, our drinking water system failed. Fortunately, it was easier in that case.
It’s important for government to look seriously at the needs of remote communities. In our case, the nearest municipality is 85 kilometres from our village. If a forest fire were to occur, it would be a real disaster for our community.