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Tsilhqot'in emergency centre still possible as emergency management agreement renewed with B.C., Canada

Much of work laid out in deal with B.C., Ottawa after 2017 fire season remains incomplete

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Five years after devastating wildfires swept B.C.’s Central Interior, efforts to involve the Tslihqot’in Nation in emergency management has led to some progress, but a key demand for a regional emergency centre remains unfulfilled.

After signing a renewed five-year emergency management agreement with the province and Ottawa on Wednesday, Tsilhqot’in Nation chairman Joe Alphonse said there is still a lot of work to be done.

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He, other Tsilhqot’in chiefs, and provincial and federal representatives were in Vancouver to sign the renewed agreement.

The emergency centre is meant to act, among other things, as a training facility and evacuation centre.

Alphonse said the coronavirus pandemic had slowed progress but they want to continue the work to create the facility and find the sources to cover its expenses.

“The bigger the building, the better. The more expensive the better, the more technology the better. … What is the province, what is Canada willing to do?” said Alphonse.

Noting that this was a long-standing request of the Tsilhqot’in, B.C.’s minister of Indigenous relations and reconciliation, Murray Rankin, said the province is committed to advancing options to fund the next stage of a feasibility study and design the proposed emergency centre.

“We are certainly in dialogue on that very point,” said Rankin.

The collaboration agreement is intended to provide an enhanced role and capacity for the Tsilhqot’in in emergency management operations based on their experience and knowledge of their land, beef up training for Indigenous firefighters, and improve co-ordination and communication by the province.

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Progress has been made on emergency response, enhanced community capacity and an improved financial reimbursement process, the parties said.

The parties said they are also working on medium to long-range infrastructure spending such as for firehalls.

More than $2.5 million was promised with the new agreement, including $1.475 million from the federal government and $1.12 million from the provincial government.

In 2017, the Tslihqot’in had accused the province of not paying enough attention to its emergency needs and one of its communities, the Tl’etinqox First Nation, refused to evacuate despite wildfires around it.

At the time the community’s chief, Alphonse, said in an exchange with an RCMP officer that the community would set up its own blockade if the police tried forcibly to evacuate people, including children.

The then-B.C. Liberal government was critical of the First Nation’s position, but emotions settled and eventually the community’s Indigenous firefighters began working with B.C. Wildfire Service crews.

Throughout, Alphonse remained adamant they were staying, saying he believed they had received more resources because of that very decision.

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He also said staying and fighting the fires was good for the community, and it was important to protect a recently rebuilt church and health centre, and their homes.

Alphonse said at the time: “It gives everybody a role — stepping up and fighting for the community. It will give people confidence to fight for other issues, maybe social issues. By staying in the community, it’s nothing but positive for us.”

In 2019, a Tslihqot’in report on the 2017 wildfire season noted that the collaborative agreement was a crucial first step in recognizing the Nation’s leadership in emergency management.

The report concluded, however, that further detailed agreements were necessary to ensure all parties understand the roles and responsibilities of all orders of legitimate government in a way that allows for a fully co-ordinated, multi-agency, real-time emergency response.

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The report laid out 33 calls to action, including the development of centralized Indigenous-led emergency centre in Tsilhqot’in territory with satellite sites and the construction or upgrade of firehalls in each community equipped with fire trucks, training spaces and storage.

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Also among the recommendations were the construction of gathering halls/safe muster areas, improvement to Highway 20 into the territory including cellphone towers, and fuel reduction, such as prescribed burns in forests to reduce wildfire risks.

ghoekstra@postmedia.com

twitter.com/gordon_hoekstra


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