Skeena-Bulkley Valley MP Nathan Cullen says the federal government should support locally coordinated initiatives when it comes to wildfire response in remote communities.
鈥淚 don鈥檛 think Ottawa coming up with a fire plan for the Lakes District is what people want,鈥� he told Lakes District 亚洲天堂. 鈥淚 think they should just support us financially and in other ways when local initiatives crop up.鈥�
鈥淭hat was one of the problems that I noticed鈥� that the more rural and remote the fire, the less familiarity a lot of the people working in the offices had with it,鈥� he continued. 鈥淎nd that鈥檚 normal, they might be more familiar with Kamloops than they are with Telegraph Creek.鈥�
鈥淔ire doesn鈥檛 care about jurisdictions and levels of government, and we need decision making happening closer to the ground. You take the Southside, for example, one of the things I love about that community is its independence, and its spirit of getting the job done together; we gotta harness that, not fight it.鈥�
鈥淪o the question now is how do we safely harness that great pride and self-reliance that a lot of our smaller and remote communities have by nature,鈥� he added.
This summer some residents south of 亚洲天堂 Lake refused to abide by evacuation orders, choosing to stay behind to help combat the fires and protect their properties and livelihoods.
READ MORE: Some residents south of 亚洲天堂 Lake refuse to evacuate
Cullen said there were also communication issues during this wildfire season.
鈥淚 talked to a lot of the residents, people who have lost their homes, and on top of what you say is a normal stress of a huge natural disaster, I think it鈥檚 fair to say there were communication problems with fire service officers sometimes, and challenges in responding to what people are calling this new normal of big, intense and widespread fires that are being linked to the effect of climate change.鈥�
鈥淲henever we reached out to federal ministers, they were very responsive to me, but I know a lot of Indigenous communities for example that are frustrated because they seem to be getting passed around a lot. And then when you try to coordinate efforts between communities it gets more difficult.鈥�
Cullen says additional resources are definitely part of the answer.
鈥淚f this is the new reality as the premier has said, we鈥檙e kidding ourselves with the budgets that we sat aside,鈥� he said. 鈥淭he normal way that they put money aside, everybody knows it鈥檚 not enough.鈥�
But Cullen says prevention is often not something that politicians are interested in.
鈥淧revention is spending money to make sure something doesn鈥檛 happen, and politicians like to spend money on things that do.鈥�
Cullen added that he鈥檚 been supporting a 鈥渃oming together鈥� of northern communities impacted by wildfires 鈥� Aboriginal and non-Aboriginal 鈥� to discuss this year鈥檚 wildfire response, beyond the expected review of the fire season.
鈥淸It would be great] to do it in our region and do it right away, when the memory is fresh and lessons are still very present.鈥�
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