By Bryan Eneas

Montreal Lake Cree Nation recovering well from last year’s wildfire

Jun 24, 2016 | 7:00 PM

Almost a year ago to the day, Montreal Lake Cree Nation experienced one of the worst natural disasters in its history.

Residents had two hours to gather their belongings and leave the reserve under a community issued evacuation notice. The day before the evacuation the elders and the sick left first as a precaution and it ended up saving time, according to Councillor Frank Roberts.

“I remember that morning. It was calm, and quiet… early in the morning, it was about 8 to 8:30 a.m. we were on standby,” Roberts said.

At the time of the blaze, Montreal Lake’s fire department had been fighting fires elsewhere. As soon as the call for evacuation was out, they were sent immediately to their own community, and were pulled off lines back home, according to Roberts.

A total of nine dwellings burned to the ground, along with extensive damage to the tree lines. Since that time, the wildfire recovery plan has been implemented by chief and council to restore the community to where it was before the fires.

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“Initially after we lost them, two or three weeks after, we met with Indian and Northern Affairs Canada. That’s when we started talking about recovering what we lost,” Roberts said. “Our main concern was replacing those units. We were going to Ready to Move houses; that was our initial plan. The way government works though, it’s a slow process. We weren’t able to get that money in place until the beginning of this year.”

At the time, Montreal Lake had been building a new subdivision, so the infrastructure was already there to start constructing new dwellings. Nine families lost everything in the fires, and needed somewhere to stay. Montreal Lake Cree Nation temporarily relocated the affected families to Prince Albert where some stayed until September.

In an amazing act of gratitude, members of the community stepped up and volunteered their houses to get those affected back into the community. Before the end of 2015 all nine families were back in Montreal Lake. The hope is to return these families to their brand new houses by the end of August, according to Roberts.

The wildfire recovery plan included more than just rebuilding homes and relocating family. Montreal Lake Cree Nation implemented a project plan to hire contractors to rebuild the dwellings, who in turn hired labourers from the community.

There were safety concerns raised about the burned trees surrounding what has now been dubbed the “old subdivision” that was affected by fire. Those trees had to be cut down this past winter.

“We’re in the process of moving those trees now, the trees we cut down in the winter. We looked for a market for them but nobody takes those burnt trees. We thought we could get them to the mill, but no,” Roberts said.

Some of the spruce trees can be used at the sawmill on Montreal Lake Cree Nation, but the community will be receiving the majority of the burnt wood to use as firewood, said Roberts.

In total, the wildfire was around 4,500 hectares which equates to half the Montreal Lake Cree Nation reserve. While it was bad in terms of size, the community came together and has worked hard in the last year to restore what was lost. The process is almost complete, and life can start returning to normal soon in Montreal Lake.

Bryan.Eneas@jpbg.com

On Twitter, @BryanEneas