Unpaid bills prevent fire calls to First Nation

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This article was published 03/06/2020 (1976 days ago), so information in it may no longer be current.

Unpaid bills are the reason two fire departments did not respond to calls about a house fire at Keeseekoowenin Ojibway First Nation on May 30.

Audrey Bone called 911 when the camper next to her house caught fire. RCMP then called the Shoal Lake and Strathclair fire departments. One fire chief oversees the two departments since those communities amalgamated under the Rural Municipality of Yellowhead. The call came to both fire departments, and both said they would not respond.

Additionally, the band’s own aged pumper arrived late and, according to Bone, it broke down after firefighters drained all the water out.

Bone’s home burned to the ground.

Calling it a sensitive issue, Yellowhead Mayor Merv Starzyk said fire Chief Rick Eastcott was acting under the direction of council.

“It was council that decided by resolution not to respond to any calls, basically because of lack of compensation from the First Nation community, and arrears,” Starzyk said, adding it’s when the two communities amalgamated in 2015 that Keeseekoowenin arrears came to light.

Starzyk serves on the board of directors of the Association of Manitoba Municipalities (AMM).

“This is something that not only our municipality but other municipalities have brought to the attention of the AMM board, and the AMM has brought it to the attention of the minister for Indigenous affairs. She is aware of the problem, and her department is looking to see if there’s a way to resolve it,” Starzyk said.

A spokesperson from that department told The Brandon Sun there isn’t really a provincial mechanism to deal with the issue. The issue was raised with Minister Eileen Clarke before municipal affairs split from Indigenous and Northern Relations.

“They would need a service agreement,” said Clarke’s press secretary Caitlin MacGregor.

Indigenous Services Canada did not reply to questions before deadline, but pointed to its website.

The department provides funding for fire protection every year as part of the First Nation’s core capital funding, which includes firefighting, operating and maintaining fire halls, purchasing equipment such as fire trucks, training and educating firefighters, according to the website. On reserves, fire protection is managed by the First Nation band council.

The department also notes band councils can use the funds to run their own fire departments or to contract fire protection services from nearby communities. However, First Nations may choose to use fire protection funding on other priorities.

“We’ve put out the invite many times – let’s sit and talk and discuss … many things,” Starzyk said.

“We could share a lot of stuff. But they just kind of want to work at arm’s length, so …”

The Shoal Lake fire department responded to a fire call at Keeseekoowenin last year, but when they got there the reception wasn’t the best, Starzyk said.

“The local department they have there at Keesee were on the scene with their fire truck and turned around and said to the Shoal Lake crew, ‘What are you guys doing here? We’ve got things under control, we don’t need you.’ It was actually a bit of a kick in the teeth.”

As far as the arrears go, Starzyk said Yellowhead has been trying to resolve the issue.

“We’re prepared to try and work something out. We mentioned years back we could work out some kind of payment plan, develop some kind of strategy for coverage,” he said.

“But I know other neighbouring municipalities have adopted the attitude that if it’s the RCMP phoning then there’s a problem.”

Starzyk said if the First Nation calls, it must foot the bill, but if the RCMP calls, the First Nation isn’t on the hook for the bill.

Jason Potter, the reeve for Harrison Park, which has three fire departments — Onanole, Sandy Lake and Newdale — said they don’t have anything official on the books regarding responding to Keeseekoowenin. The Sandy Lake fire department, which is just a 10-minute drive away, did not get a call, and neither did the other two fire departments.

“But I would like to think Harrison Park would always help out our neighbours,” Potter said.

“Normally we don’t respond out there. We don’t have a fire service agreement with them. I’m not saying we wouldn’t, just that we don’t. They’ve never asked for that.”

Potter said if Keeseekoowenin did need assistance, Harrison Park would definitely help out.

“We do have other agreements and conversations with them,” he said.

Keeseekoowenin’s Chief Norman Bone did not respond by deadline.

» mletourneau@brandonsun.com

» Michele LeTourneau covers Indigenous matters for The Brandon Sun under the Local Journalism Initiative, a federally funded program that supports the creation of original civic journalism.