Wildfires are always a worry for those who live in Northern Ontario. We are surrounded by endless forests, and we know what it means when these trees start to burn in the peak heat of summer.
During a few hot summers in Attawapiskat in the 1980s, large columns of smoke would rise west of our community. It’s a frightening being isolated from the world and knowing that fire might reach your home.
Working as a writer for several years in Iroquois Falls, I learned from their community Elders, including my late partner Mike McGrath’s mother, Emily McGrath, about how the area was devastated by fire in July 1916.
Emily’s parents, Margaret and Jack Dunn, arrived in Iroquois in the 1920s and they heard direct accounts of what happened. Families passed down stories of how the fire sounded like a roar and arrived like a wall of flame that caught everyone by surprise. There were no systems in place to warn people or to manage such an emergency.
Many families have their own stories about this firestorm that destroyed entire communities along a 60-kilometre stretch from Cochrane to Matheson and Ramore. The half-a-million-acre blaze took an estimated 223 lives.
This memory lives on in the name of the small community of Val Gagné, east of Timmins, an area previously known as Nushka. When the settlement was destroyed, it was rebuilt and renamed Val Gagné in memory of Wilfred “Little Father” Gagné, a Catholic priest who died trying to rescue parishioners.
This deadly fire, along with others from this era, led to Ontario’s Forest Fires Prevention Act, which is meant to prevent, suppress and manage fires and protect lives.
This past month, there was a modern repeat of this deadly history when the community of Namaygoosisagagun (Collins First Nation) in northwestern Ontario was destroyed by flames. First Nation leaders in northern Ontario were unhappy with the provincial and federal governments’ response to this disaster.
In interviews, Chief Helen Paavola stated that their community didn’t receive the support they needed, and that during the height of the disaster, people were essentially left on their own to save their lives.
It’s disheartening to know that our provincial and federal governments are willing to prioritize finances and economic riches to develop the so-called Ring of Fire mining region, yet spend little to no time in preparing for natural disasters that endanger the lives of the people who live in these same areas.
Plenty of experts have pointed out that governments have not done enough to prepare for forest fire emergencies.
In a Globe and Mail article, Noah Freedman, vice-president of the Ontario Public Service Employees Union local 703 and a 10-year veteran of the provincial wildland fire service, stated that the number of provincial fire crews is lower than what was available decades ago. Compared with past years, fewer fire crews are dealing with forest fires across an area that is twice the size of France.
Freedman also said that Ontario lacks aircraft and equipment. Even though there are nine large water bombers, two were reported as being grounded for repairs.
As Grand Chief Alvin Fiddler of Nishnawbe-Aski Nation commented to the CBC, “In their haste to extract our resources in our territories, both Ontario and Canada are ignoring the immediate threats our communities are facing because of climate change.”
Environmental experts point out that climate change will only make events like forest fires worse in coming decades. Governments should do more to protect people in the North instead of spending so much time trying to facilitate mining development.
Protecting the people and the land should happen first. We shouldn’t wait for another disaster to happen before governments make changes to better deal with the threats.