An expert on First Nations and psychological stress says this year’s forest fire evacuations in northern Saskatchewan show there is a better way to deal with a mass and prolonged evacuation of thousands of Aboriginal people.
Professor Jim Waldram is a psychological anthropologist with a background in Aboriginal mental health issues. He did an extensive study and made numerous recommendations after a forest fire in 2011 forced 1,300 people from their homes on the Hatchet Lake First Nation.
This year, there were about 14,000 evacuees from a wide area of northern Saskatchewan.
The professor says in some cases, families were separated and evacuees were scattered all over the place. He says they ended up in shelters that were a huge departure from their culture and way of life.
“My hope is that the legacy of this year’s horrible season of forest fires is that there will be an initiative now to see how these communities and other First Nations communities can be better utilized,” he says.
A number of First Nations including Beardy’s Okemasis, Big River, Muskeg Lake, Ahtahkakoop and James Smith opened their own evacuation centres, which became known as the “Rez Cross”. Professor Waldram says they offered something the Red Cross could not, but there was some backlash.
“We saw some tensions there,” he says. “I think there were tensions because these (shelters) were operating outside specific government regulations and were not sanctioned by the Red Cross.”
The University of Saskatchewan professor would like to see these type of Aboriginal shelters become a regular part of any future evacuations.
The provincial government has indicated it plans to conduct a full review of how the forest fire crisis was handled this year.