First Nations response to B.C. floods held up as a model to help mitigate damage from future disasters

last month, Halalt was quickly overwhelmed. Water pooling on the nearby Trans-Canada Highway broke through the barriers on its shoulder and surged down into the reserve. Two water main breaks compromised the nation’s tap water and about half its 250 residents had to be evacuated.Although the toll of the disaster was severe, the community appears to have suffered much less damage than it did in January 2020, when it experienced a smaller flood.

On Nov. 24, B.C.’s Indigenous Relations and Reconciliation Minister, Murray Rankin, acknowledged the strong criticism his government received in the days after the flooding from Indigenous communities that were cut off from electricity and phone services, or trapped by mudslides. First Nations leaders say volunteers often provided more aid and information in those crucial days than the provincial government.

Indigenous Services Canada did not immediately respond to a request for comment, but, in an official update from this summer, the department saidonly 11 of those permanent positions have been filled across B.C. A week after the flooding, the department announced $4.4-million in funding for FNESS to help Indigenous communities respond to the devastation.

EMBC said in a statement that it has been working with FNESS and the First Nations Health Authority to support Indigenous communities and has asked FNESS to do rapid assessments of the handful of First Nations along Highway 8, northwest of Merritt,Lee Spahan, Chief of the Coldwater Indian Band in the southern interior region of the province, said the daily calls with EMBC officials in the week following the storm focused mainly on technical updates about flood levels and road closures and...

Soon, FNESS had representatives at several regional operations centres, where they helped with local disaster response. By the end of the week, Mr. Schnitzler had made it to Victoria to join the temporary war room set up in EMBC headquarters, where staff from provincial and federal agencies wrangle resources and streamline communications.

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