Northern Manitoba First Nations, leaders raise alarm about lack of fire safety after apartment building burns

In the days after a devastating fire that consumed an apartment building in a northern Manitoba First Nation, that community and others are raising the alarm about the long-standing lack of fire safety and resources.

On Saturday, a17-year-old girl and two-year-old boy were airlifted to Winnipeg after they were injured in an apartment fire on Tataskweyak Cree Nation in a blaze that displaced 49 people.

Taralee Beardy, the chief of the community which is about 700 kilometres north of Winnipeg,says that fire could have been prevented.

"We lost eight homes and if we had a fire truck, we could have probably saved the whole apartment complex," she told CBC News.

Beardy says that fire truck, which the community bought used,keeps breaking down.

She was making plans to send it to Winnipeg for further repairs when the fire happened.

The community made a request to Indigenous Services Canada for funding for a new fire truck, but hasn't yet heard back, Beardy says.

"Something drastic has to happen before we can get assistance. That's what it seems like," she said.

Indigenous Services Canada spokesperson Nicolas Moquin said in an email to CBC News on Tuesdaythat the federal government provides about $216,000 per year to Tataskweyak Cree Nation for fire protection and other services.

"Tataskweyak Cree Nation's leadership understands best the priorities and needs of their community. Tataskweyak therefore manages fire protection for their community and prioritizes where these funds are directed to be most effective," the email said.

Other communities lack fire resources

Tataskweyak isn't the only northern Manitoba First Nation dealing with a lack of fire safety infrastructure.

War Lake First Nation, which is southeast of Tataskweyak, doesn't have its own fire truck or department.

Northeast of those communities, Fox Lake Cree Nation also doesn't have a fire department, but is working on getting volunteer firefighters in place.

Misipawistik Cree Nationhas an agreement with the Town ofGrand Rapids, Man., which is about 400 kilometres north of Winnipeg,that its fire department will respond to fires in the community.

Misipawistik leadership has ordered its own fire truck, but it won't arrive until next year.

Barren Lands First Nation, which is located in the northwest corner of Manitoba, has a fire truck, but it's not in good shape, and the community needs a new fire hall.

Canada's National Indigenous Fire Safety Councilreleased a report two years ago which found people living on First Nations are 10 times more likely to die in a house fire than people living elsewhere in Canada.

Blaine Wiggins,the senior director with the National Indigenous Fire Safety Council, says those findings in 2020 were virtually the same as the data the council analyzed from 20 years prior.

"The statistics only speak tofatalities. It doesn't address other issues such as injuries and loss of infrastructure, loss of housing stock and the type of housing stock that we're losing to fires," he said in an interview.

The council continues to research what's causing the fires, so communities can take specific actions to mitigate those blazes.

Garrison Settee, the Grand Chief of Manitoba Keewatinowi Okimakanak, says it's disturbing these problems have persisted for so long.

"We have talked about this for the last 20 years. We have talked about this to different governments.We have been identifying the the needs that we have in our communities and nothing has changed. It's something that we will continue to push," he said.

One common theme is poverty.

In growing First Nations communities, there is always a shortage of housing, and overcrowding is rampant, Settee says.

A national standard for fire response and prevention on First Nations, including working smoke detectors in every home, is something that Wiggins wants to see, but he says how a community gets to that standard is up to them.

Indigenous Services Canada says it's collaboratingwith the Assembly of First Nations and other partners as well as fire expert organizations to co-develop a renewedFirst Nations fire protection strategyfor 2022-2027.

The groups are working together to finalize the strategy and determine next steps for its release.

Settee says these changes can't come soon enough.

"It's time to fix the problem. It's time to fix what's wrong and make it right."

Fire safety concern on First Nations

55 years ago

Duration 2:00

The lack of fire safety and fire fighting resources in many northern First Nations has been causing concern for two decades. So after a devastating fire Saturday, First Nations leadership is asking when change will happen.