Local First Nations helping fire evacuees in Sault Ste. Marie
As wildfire evacuees from North Spirit Lake First Nation continue to settle into their accommodations in Sault Ste. Marie, nearby Indigenous communities are stepping up to ensure their stay is as comfortable as possible.
One way of doing that is to offer cultural support.
The leaders of Batchewana and Garden River First Nations said overcoming the hustle and bustle of a city -- particularly the noise -- can be a hard adjustment for people from remote communities.
"A lot of our people are not used to the city, and the noises of the city, the busyness of the city, all these buses and traffic, it can be intimidating," said Chief Dean Sayers of Batchewana. "I think it really calls for an opportunity to get on the land."
Chief Andy Rickard of Garden River said offering cultural experiences that mirror their home life can help evacuees to cope.
"The things that we enjoy here is access to our beautiful beach, we have some fishing spots because we know that some of the community members that came from those communities, fishing and harvesting is a big part of their life," Rickard said.
Meantime, Sayers and Rickard want to know what's behind the high frequency of evacuations of Indigenous communities across northern Ontario.
"I would call an inquiry into the displacement of or the evacuation of First Nations people," Sayers said. "Why is that incident rate so high? It just doesn't make sense."
"You talk about reconciliation, right? That's the big buzzword today is that some of these communities are still dealing with those challenges that they've been having with the feds, or the province, for 20, 30, 40 years," said Rickard. "Kashechewan is a prime example. They experience flooding every wintertime and they're having to evacuate every winter."
Sayers and Rickard said their communities are open to the evacuees from North Spirit Lake. They're organizing some activities to get the evacuees onto their traditional lands and waters.
CTVNews.ca Top Stories
Amid concerns over 'collateral damage' Trudeau, Freeland defend capital gains tax change
Facing pushback from physicians and businesspeople over the coming increase to the capital gains inclusion rate, Prime Minister Justin Trudeau and his deputy Chrystia Freeland are standing by their plan to target Canada's highest earners.
Bodies found by U.S. authorities searching for missing B.C. kayakers
United States authorities who have been searching for a pair of missing kayakers from British Columbia since the weekend have recovered two bodies in the nearby San Juan Islands of Washington state.
Tom Mulcair: Park littered with trash after 'pilot project' is perfect symbol of Trudeau governance
Former NDP leader Tom Mulcair says that what's happening now in a trash-littered federal park in Quebec is a perfect metaphor for how the Trudeau government runs things.
'It's discriminatory': Individuals refused entry to Ontario legislature for wearing keffiyeh
Individuals being barred from entering Ontario’s legislature while wearing a keffiyeh say the garment is part of their cultural identity— and the only ones making it political are the politicians banning it.
Competition bureau finds 'substantial' anti-competitive effects with proposed Bunge-Viterra merger
The proposed merger of agricultural giants Viterra and Bunge is raising competition concerns from the federal government.
Douglas DC-4 plane with 2 people on board crashes into river outside Fairbanks, Alaska
A Douglas C-54 Skymaster airplane crashed into the Tanana River near Fairbanks on Tuesday, Alaska State Troopers said.
BREAKING Mounties will not be charged in shooting death of B.C. Indigenous man
Three Mounties in British Columbia will not face charges in the killing of a 38-year-old Indigenous man on Vancouver Island in 2021.
Canada's favourite sport to watch is hockey, survey shows
The 2024 Stanley Cup playoffs have already delivered a fever level of fan excitement in Canada.
'It's just so hard to let it go': Umar Zameer still haunted by death of Toronto police officer
“It's just so hard to let it go. I mean, everyone is telling me, ‘you have to move on,’ but I know someone is not here [anymore]. So I don't know how I will move on." That’s what Umar Zameer, the man recently acquitted in the death of a Toronto police officer, told CTV News Toronto in a sit-down interview on Tuesday.