Indigenous and Northern Affairs committee  Thank you. We, again, are more than prepared to take on issues that are common in the Tsilhqot'in country—floods, fires, mainly fires—but it's a matter of recognition. We are advocating the establishment of an evacuation centre. You evacuate communities, and a lot of times they're evacuated to big city centres.

Indigenous and Northern Affairs committee  I think to be prepared is one thing.... We're prepared. We live here. We've lived here for generations. If fire comes, we know what to do. Nowadays, we go from flood season in the spring to fire season and pandemics. We're well rehearsed. The issue I see here is with government officials.

Indigenous and Northern Affairs committee  Yes. I think the way forestry is managed is for profit for today and really nothing else. We have beetle epidemics that are killing trees out there, and trees that are falling. The amount of fuel on the floor is unreal, and when 2017 hit, that's what created the intenseness of the fires.

Indigenous and Northern Affairs committee  I think I did just finish saying that you implement fires in early spring, small, regional fires, to eliminate as much as possible areas of a lot of forest floor debris. In some cases, the dead wood that would be lying on the forest floor would be as high as 10 or 12 feet. That's not good management.

Indigenous and Northern Affairs committee  Yes, that's the case to some degree. You can also log different areas that are problematic and stuff. You should have a good inventory of the stock that you have. A store owner is going to do the same thing for what they want to sell in their store. If we're generating revenues from our natural resources, we should know what's out there and manage it.

Indigenous and Northern Affairs committee  Thank you, Mr. Chair. On behalf of the Tsilhqot'in National Government, we would like to thank the committee for the invitation to appear on this important topic. Today I will be speaking to the need for emergency preparedness within the Tsilhqot'in Nation, the only nation in Canada with aboriginal title as recognized by the Supreme Court of Canada in 2014.