MNA to host second response centre

May 13, 2016.

After touring Fort McMurray by air and on the ground Friday, Prime Minister Justin Trudeau said Canadians need to understand that the pictures they have seen of a raging wild fire are accurate and it isn’t because of weather or luck that most of the community remains standing.

May 13, 2016.

“The Creator was looking after us because no lives were lost in that fire. That we have to be grateful for,” said Marie Celestine Adam.  “I just prayed and prayed all the time. I prayed for everybody and anyone. I made an offering twice to the fire spirit. With everybody’s prayer, we helped. I’m sure everyone was praying.”

More than a week after her harrowing escape from a rapidly burning Fort McMurray, Adam’s voice is still low and strained. She says she’s not sure if she feels safe right now.

May 12, 2016.

Hotspots in basements of homes in Fort McMurray, flare ups on Macdonald Island and near Anzac mean the area is not yet safe to return to.

Danielle Larivee, minister of municipal affairs, says it will still be a week and a half before the province offers up a re-entry schedule.

“Your safety is very important to us and your community is not yet safe and until it is, people cannot go home,” she said.

Trudeau in Fort McMurray

May 12, 2016.

Mikisew Cree Nation Chief Steve Courtoreille wants to see quick action between the federal, provincial, and municipal governments resulting in homes for MCN members displaced by the Fort McMurray fire.

“We don’t want to be jumping through hoops all summer long to get permits for building. My discussion with the (Regional Municipality of Wood Buffalo) mayor (Melissa Blake) is that you need to give us a green light to build and we’ll deal with the applications at a later date, but let’s deal with this now,” said Courtoreille.

Homeless who lost lives in Edmonton to be remembered Friday

May 12, 2016. The Edmonton Coalition for Housing and Homeless will host a memorial on Friday commemorating the 51 homeless people who lost their lives in the city this past year. The ceremony will be held at Boyle Street Community Services drop-in. A piper-led procession will then make its way to the Homeless Memorial across from City Hall where flowers will be laid.

Naloxone now easier to access

May 11, 2016.

For the second time in three years, Save the Children has come west to set up safe spaces for Indigenous children displaced by a disaster.

Photo: Save the Children staff member Yannis Koumarianos plays with some children at the safe spaces area set up at Chateau Nova hotel for children evacuated during the wild fire near Fort McMurray.
(Photo: Shari Narine)

Treaty 8 First Nations are asking, ‘What is wrong with this picture?’
The Liberal Government of Canada has declared full and unqualified support for the United Nations Declaration on the Rights of Indigenous Peoples (UNDRIP), while at the same time allowing the contentious Site C Hydro project to proceed.