Tribal Chief Eric Sylvestre of the Meadow Lake Tribal Council met with senior official of Aboriginal Affairs

Tribal Chief Eric Sylvestre of the Meadow Lake Tribal Council met with senior official of Aboriginal Affairs and Northern Development Canada (AANDC) on Feb. 19, and requested that the department work with the tribal council so that all parties can be assured that the MLTC communities either have the infrastructure and capacity in place, or operative service agreements, to effectively respond to reserve fires.

Sylvestre has asked the Technical Services Unit of MLTC to assess the current readiness and capacity of the communities to respond to emergency calls related to fires, reads a press release.  
“Now is not the time to argue about funding and placing of blame,” said Sylvestre. “It is important to ensure that Meadow Lake First Nations have fire protection services in place at the First Nations level or via operative service agreements with nearby non-Aboriginal communities to respond to reserve fire-based emergencies.”

Currently, one of the MLTC communities, Flying Dust First Nation, has a service agreement with the City of Meadow Lake. The more northern English River First Nation is currently engaged with a construction project to build a new fire hall and acquire a new fire truck cost-shared with AANDC. “Our First Nations, like other small communities, operate their fire protection services on a voluntary basis,” said the tribal chief.