National Indigenous Fire Safety Council Speaks Out on Deaths from Fire
The lack of fire-fighting resources in Indigenous communities does not just lead to the destruction of homes and communities from wildfires. People from the Indigenous communities, particularly First Nations and Inuit, accounted for higher fire-related deaths in Canada between 2011 and 2020 compared to non-Indigenous people, according to a new StatsCan report commissioned by the National Indigenous Fire Safety Council (NIFSC).
About 2,200 fire-related deaths occurred in Canada from 2011 to 2020 in total, according to the Canadian Coroner and Medical Examiner database. Of the 700 victims who could be identified by the researchers, 140 or one in five came from Indigenous communities, while, according to the 2016 census, Indigenous people make up only about 4.6 per cent of the population of Canada.
The report also confirmed what Indigenous Peoples know, that despite the declarations, "apologies," vows to "do better" and so on which emanate from governments, very little has changed over the years. Arnold Lazare, the deputy chief of operations for NIFSC and an experienced firefighter, told the Hill Times that the report confirmed what they have known for years.
"In effect, you have a perfect storm, because you have overcrowded houses that need repairs and are not built to any standards, with a lack of smoke detectors and no fire education and they are in rural areas where fire response is much delayed," he says.
NIFSC's key focus is fire prevention and education, which Lazare believes is the first line of defence in this situation. The NIFSC, he adds, is about to enter into an agreement with the federal government to receive 2,500 smoke alarms to this end. But such measures do not address the housing crisis, both the lack of housing and the need for repairs and renovations. Indigenous and Métis communities across the country have also lost homes to wildfires, compounding the problem of inadequate or no housing.
Lazare also called on the federal government to resume tracking fire-related deaths on reserves, which it stopped doing in 2010. "My guess is that they stopped it because they didn't like the numbers, and it raised questions of accountability," he said.
This article was published in
September 27, 2024
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