Thank you.
Good afternoon, everyone. I'd like to first of all acknowledge that we're on the unceded Algonquin Anishinabe territory.
I appreciate this opportunity to appear before this committee on behalf of the 49 first nations of Nishnawbe Aski Nation.
Emergency management is critical for first nations, especially our remote communities. It has been six years since the tragedy in the Pikangikum First Nation, which claimed nine innocent lives, including that of Amber Strang, a five-month-old infant, and three generations of her family. There have been many other similar tragedies, including the fatal house fire in the Sandy Lake First Nation in January, which claimed the lives of three children. These fires were preventable tragedies, and lives will continue to be lost without meaningful action.
The Ontario Chief Coroner's Table on understanding fire deaths in First Nations examined fire-related deaths in 20 communities, including seven NAN first nations, over the last decade. The report confirms what our leaders have been saying for years: Too many innocent lives have been lost in tragic house fires that might have been prevented if safety measures and prevention services had been in place.
The report found that first nations children under 10 had the highest fire-related mortality rates. Communities with no year-round road access had the highest number of fire fatalities. Eighty-six percent of fatal fires in first nations communities had either no or non-operational smoke alarms in the housing structure. Fatal fires where the primary sources of heating were wood stoves or wood heaters were highest in communities with no year-round road access.
Everyone should be able to go to bed and expect to see their families in the morning. It is unacceptable that our children are at high risk.
Despite numerous reports over the last few years, our communities have continued to suffer losses from tragic house fires. These reports state that our communities need resources, training, updated equipment and the ability to service and maintain equipment and related infrastructure to deal with and prevent fires. In the last decade, we've seen minimal improvements in these areas, primarily due to a lack of will to support proposals and initiatives.
In 2021, NAN identified the following priorities for major improvements to fire safety and prevention: increase fire safety awareness and education through Amber's fire safety campaign; implement a standardized service delivery model across NAN territory; and ensure that community infrastructure and housing conditions are acceptable and built to code.
These are solid recommendations that require action.
House fires are not the only threat to our communities. On-reserve first nations in Ontario are 18 times more likely to be evacuated due to floods, forest fires, a failure of community infrastructure and severe weather events, compared to the general population of Canada. More than 80% of these emergencies occur in NAN territory. These emergencies are only increasing in frequency, severity and duration due to climate change, and are especially devastating in remote communities, where the lack of services, capacity and infrastructure are detrimental to an efficient response and recovery.
Last summer was a record-setting forest fire season in northern Ontario, particularly in northwestern Ontario, which is NAN territory. Thousands of NAN community members were evacuated because of smoke and fires threatening their health, homes and safety. Despite these threats, some community members risked their lives by staying behind or returning to their communities, rather than remaining in seriously inadequate conditions in faraway locations. Evacuated community members from one community were forced to stay in a school gymnasium without adequate washrooms or showers. Those who didn't evacuate stayed in their communities without access to basic health services and policing.
The distances that remote communities must travel for evacuations can be immense. For example, last year, hundreds of Deer Lake First Nation residents were evacuated to Cornwall, Ontario. The direct overland distance from Deer Lake to Cornwall is 1,500 kilometres. That is further than from Ottawa to Corner Brook, Newfoundland. They were allowed one suitcase each, not knowing when they'd be able to return home or if they would have a home to return to.
This year has already seen an increase in communities struggling with flooding due to higher-than-normal amounts of snow and precipitation in the winter and spring. This has put homes and other infrastructure, including water treatment plants, at risk for damage and loss. For two fly-in communities this spring, flood waters covered the only road to the airports—their only source for incoming groceries and clean drinking water and the sole means for medical and emergency evacuation.
When a tragedy such as a house fire, a threat of forest fire, an outbreak or a flood happens, the chief and council and support workers must work at maximum capacity. They require immediate assistance from all available agencies. Emergency situations often lead to leadership and frontline workers becoming overwhelmed and requiring additional support and relief.
For fly-in communities, there are no nearby communities or municipalities with road access to provide quick relief, equipment, or additional supports in times of crisis. This reality caused undue stress a few weeks ago, when multiple NAN communities were scrambling to get sandbags into their communities. Due to shortages in northwestern Ontario, sandbags needed to be purchased and flown to tribal councils from as far away as Winnipeg.
States of emergency are often declared due to widespread trauma and persistent significant shortages of services and resources. Declaring a state of emergency should eliminate barriers to accessing accommodations and resources that are desperately needed, including such wraparound supports as health care and mental health services.
However, this is not always the case. We see a continued failure from the government to respond, which raises questions about whether the government understands or cares about the threats to our first nations. The emergency management concept we have presented outlines this and is the direction that the province and both levels of government should be headed in. The creation of a first nations-led emergency management service is a crucial part of saving lives and infrastructure in our NAN first nations, with the goal to establish and apply the same or higher standards for fire safety and emergency management as you see elsewhere in Canada.
This is the foundation for action towards a holistic and successful approach to emergency management for NAN first nations. Partners must acknowledge these issues and gaps and move forward together for a successful and culturally appropriate service delivery model that supports and empowers our first nations communities.
It must be understood that underfunding or shortchanging proposals for prevention ends up unnecessarily increasing the risk of both death and loss. The time for talking about this is over. As I always say, leadership is action.
Thank you. Meegwetch.