Peter Ballantyne Cree Nation chief calls for immediate action after wildfire forces evacuations
The leadership of a Saskatchewan First Nation is calling for the province to change how it attacks fires, suggesting its slow re‐ sponse has put their home at risk and prompted an evacuation.
Officials with the Peter Ballantyne Cree Nation (PBCN) announced the move, at the recommendation of the Saskatchewan Public Safety Agency, saying the Flanagan fire to Sandy Bay's northwest is directly threat‐ ening their community.
Sandy Bay has a popula‐ tion of about 1,800, and is lo‐ cated about 474 kilometres northeast of Saskatoon and about 22 kilometres from the Saskatchewan-Manitoba bor‐ der. It is among nine commu‐ nities that comprise the Peter Ballantyne Cree Nation.
A statement from Chief
Peter A. Beatty and the Prince Albert Grand Council (PAGC) released late Tuesday takes aim at the Saskatchewan Public Safety Agency, suggesting that the provincial entity is not ap‐ proving the activation of hun‐ dreds of First Nations fire‐ fighters that could help extin‐ guish the fires before they become a problem.
"Why would you let a fire go that's close to a commu‐ nity until it becomes a huge problem and then try and manage it; at that point, it's unmanageable," Beatty told CBC. He referred to the province's wildfire manage‐ ment as a "let it burn" policy.
"These people didn't need to be removed from their community, that could have been prevented four weeks ago when the fire started."
He said the province needs to act on fires immedi‐ ately before they destroys homes, as well as hunting and gathering areas.
Beatty said the PAGC's Saskatchewan First Nations Emergency Management has access to the necessary gear, including fire hats and boots, and have the same training as others.
There are three main types of land-based firefight‐ ers, according to the Saskatchewan Public Safety Agency (SPSA):
Type 1, trained SPSA per‐ sonnel that are located in each response area with initi‐ al response teams that also perform sustained wildfire suppression. Type 2, crews contracted through formal agreements with First Na‐ tions and northern commu‐ nities. Type 3, emergency support firefighters that are normally sent to work on fires that are under control or mop up dying wildfires.
Beatty says the province needs to employ Type 3 wild‐ fire firefighters to attack the fires early, especially when they're near northern settle‐ ments, villages and reserves.
"There are hundreds of qualified First Nations fire‐ fighters ready and willing to assist, but the SPSA has re‐ fused to hire them, claiming it is too dangerous. Their rea‐ soning? A lack of proper per‐ sonal protective equipment,'' Beatty had said in the state‐ ment.
Beatty said not utilizing such a qualified resource was a serious oversight that en‐ dangers lives and communi‐ ties.
The fire is also threaten‐ ing the nearby SaskPower Is‐ land Falls Hydroelectric Sta‐ tion.
PAGC Chief Brian Hard‐ lotte echoed Beatty's frustra‐ tions and says wildfires lead‐ ing to the evacuation of northern communities have been a problem for the past two decades.
He said the province's cur‐ rent approach to fire man‐ agement is inadequate and negligent in its disregard for the well-being of Indigenous communities in northern Saskatchewan. Both he and Beatty believe the province has to change how it attacks fires to stop the trend of evacuations.
"This isn't just a policy fail‐ ure; it's a failure of leader‐ ship and moral responsibility of the provincial govern‐ ment,'' Hardlotte said in the statement. "These aren't just remote forests - they are our homes, our sacred lands, and our future.
"To let them burn without doing everything possible to extinguish the flames is an unforgivable betrayal of our trust."
Hardlotte says the province and First Nation leadership need to better communicate with each oth‐ er.
The Saskatchewan Public Safety Agency (SPSA) would not agree to an interview with CBC, but said in a state‐ ment "SPSA pperation staff have and will continue to en‐ gage in discussions with the community leaders and SaskPower regarding these fires and operations. The SP‐ SA assesses every wildfire and decides the best way to manage each fire."
It also said it has used 11 Type 2 crews from First Na‐ tions to attack this fire, in‐ cluding from PBCN commu‐ nities.
The most recent update from the SPSA sizes the wild‐ fire at 13,000 hectares, though that size has re‐ mained unchanged from pre‐ vious updates. The wildfire crossed the Churchill River, along the northern area of the community, overnight Tuesday.
A daily SPSA wildfire up‐ date said the blaze was esti‐ mated to be about 130 square kilometres in size and that shows there are multiple crews on-site of the wildfire with helicopter, air tanker and heavy equipment sup‐ port. It says the Canadian Red Cross is aiding the evac‐ uation.
According to Duane Hiebert, the PBCN emer‐ gency response manager, the Flanagan fire is about seven kilometres from the commu‐ nity. Hiebert said about 300 people had been evacuated so far with another 200 peo‐ ple that were being moved out on buses Wednesday.
Of that 300, Hiebert was‐ n't sure how many were from fellow PBCN community De‐ schambault Lake, which also had a partial evacuation be‐ cause of smoke issues.
He said buses would con‐ tinue in and out of the com‐ munity until everyone who wants to leave is out. He said the SPSA had informed offi‐ cials that the winds are ex‐ pected to push the fire closer to Sandy Bay on Thursday.
Charlie Caribou, 69, told CBC Wednesday afternoon that some of his children and grandchildren were still in Sandy Bay, but hoped they would arrive soon.
"We are worried about the homes, but life comes first - for me, anyway - my own family and the rest of the relations I have there and the population of our people there, they're my people and I worry about all of them, not only my family," Caribou said.
The Northern Village of Sandy Bay, the related off-re‐ serve community, also has a partial evacuation ordered for the community.