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PA church extends a hand to evacuees

Jun 26, 2013 | 6:24 AM

The St. Alban’s Cathedral in Prince Albert is reaching out to the evacuees of Cumberland House.

On Tuesday, Rev. Kenneth Davis and a couple other religious leaders were at SIAST speaking with evacuees to see how they could help.

“We were just speaking with one of the chiefs from the grand council in Prince Albert here. He is from Stanley Mission and is a friend of ours and he was saying that people might like an opportunity to get away from where they’re sleeping and have a place of prayer,” said Davis, adding Bishop Adam Halkett and Bishop Michael Hawkins also contacted him to find out if the church can provide assistance.

He hopes to make St. Alban’s Cathedral available for those looking for peace and a chance to get away time away the activity at SIAST.

“We see the need and see that people are having a hard time,” Davis said. “We want them to know where they can gather and we’ll try and co-ordinate that, maybe put up some posters and invite people.”

While waiting for an opportunity to speak with counselors Davis said he had a chance to mingle with some of the evacuees.

“They’ve been talking about how difficult it is to be kind of uprooted and how hard it is to sleep at night and lots of sounds and lots of people with different habits, so you could see how that could be a bit of a challenge,” he said.

It is a possibility that residents of Cumberland House will still be in Prince Albert by Sunday and Davis wants them to know the church will be open for service.

“I think we’re been worrying a lot about our neighbours in Alberta and we’ve been hearing about great things people have been in Saskatoon and Regina for Alberta and down in Moose Jaw. Well we want to be doing the same sorts of thing for friends in Cumberland House here.”

One of those people who have been uprooted from their home is Beatrisha Cheechoo, who arrived in the city on Sunday.

She found out on Friday the community was getting evacuated, but first heard it through the news and friends.

“I didn’t even know and then we were finding out through Facebook or the news that we were declared under emergency from the government and other places, but we didn’t even know yet in the community,” Cheechoo said.

“They just a called an emergency town meeting and an emergency meeting for the reserve that Friday evening at 8 p.m., so that’s when were told officially that we were under a state of emergency.”

Cheechoo has lived in Cumberland House her whole life and has had to go through this situation before in 2005.

“It’s just so sudden and you have to go with the flow,” she said with a smile.

Luckily for her, she has family living in Prince Albert.

“I have a few family members living here and I’m actually staying with my cousin right now so that’s good,” she said.

However, not everyone is in the same situation. Some are left with no choice but to remain at SIAST. Cheechoo works at Nicapanak Child and Family Services in Cumberland House, so she has been spending time at the temporary shelter to help out where she can.

“People are worried right now because … [they] had to leave jobs and so a lot of people don’t have another source of income coming in,” she said, explaining the Red Cross has been great in providing meals but a steady income is vital.

Despite all that has happened, Cheechoo is thankful for all the volunteers at the Red Cross who have “taken time out of their lives’ to help,” as well as those community members who remained back at Cumberland House to reduce the impact of the flood.

“Hopefully we have a home to come back to and everything is not completely decimated,” she said.

“I wish them well and I pray for their safety and it’s very commendable of them to stay behind and make sure everything is okay.”

sstone@panow.com

On Twitter: @sarahstone84