The Tsilhqot'in Nation has signed a first-of-its-kind agreement with the federal and British Columbia governments that recognizes the First Nation as a full partner in wildfire response.
Through the agreement, the three governments will work together to identify best practices, define roles and build the First Nation community's capacity to manage emergencies.
Tl'etinqox Chief Joe Alphonse said he'd like to see a culturally-appropriate First Nations evacuation centre established, as well as a training facility.
Alphonse's community, which he said has 400 trained firefighters and understands fire response better than anyone, defied an evacuation order in 2017.
Although wildfires encircled three quarters of his community, Alphonse said the flames posed less of a threat than the federal and provincial governments, which failed to acknowledge the First Nation's jurisdiction and expertise.
"Those fires this summer, they were never a threat to us — government officials were. A lot has got to change," said Alphonse. "I think this is where it starts."
Alphonse said he doesn't expect concrete changes in emergency response to be in place in time for the coming wildfire season, which is two months away. But he said he's hopeful that the tripartite agreement will lay the groundwork for future change.
Both the B.C. and Tsilhqot'in governments have yet to release reviews of the 2017 wildfire season, which was the worst in B.C. history and displaced tens of thousands of residents.
Attorney General Jody Wilson-Raybould described the agreement as "truly historic."
"The result of this work will be a foundation for a new relationship that respects the jurisdiction of the Tsilhqot'in chiefs to protect their people, property and assets in an emergency," Wilson-Raybould said.
B.C. Indigenous Relations Minister Scott Fraser said he heard from several First Nations in the wake of the crisis that they did not feel they were treated as equal partners and experienced institutional racism in the government's emergency response.
"Those are hard truths for any government to face and hear. Government has work to do. There are lessons to be learned and they're being learned," Fraser said.
He said the agreement is an important step toward reconciliation.
The Chief's comments about Government Officals being a bigger threat came from the RCMP threatening to take their kids away when they refused to evacuate from a wildfire last year:
ALEXIS CREEK, B.C. — Emergency officials and police are urging British Columbia residents to respect evacuation orders ahead of fast-moving wildfires, but some First Nations are standing their ground, successfully protecting their homes and property.
The chief of the Tl’etinqox First Nation said RCMP officers told them to leave or risk having their children taken away. Instead they erected a fire boundary and prepared to fight.
“We are generation after generation that continue to live in a fire zone. This is not new to us,” said Chief Joe Alphonse, whose community is about 100 kilometres west of Williams Lake. “We feel this is the safest place for our community members to be.”
There are about 1,000 residents on the reserve, but Alphonse said only about 300 stayed to fight the fires.
BC Wildfire Service chief information officer Kevin Skrepnek said there had been a slight reprieve in the weather forecast with some rain expected, bringing relief to the windy, hot and dry conditions fuelling nearly 200 fires and displacing more than 14,000 people.
Crews took advantage of calmer conditions Wednesday to make progress on fire guards near Williams Lake, where 10,000 people remain on evacuation alert.
With improved conditions, Alphonse said he finally had a moment to reflect on the three days of fire fighting without the aid of power or telephone service.
He said Mounties told them to evacuate last weekend and the conversation quickly became heated.
As chief, he said his signature is required to enforce the evacuation order on the reserve, which he chose not to authorize.
Robert Turner of Emergency Management BC said Alphonse was correct. First Nations have the authority to issue their own evacuation orders for their territory.
“They would hopefully be taking advice from the same experts as a local government,” he said.
Alphonse said many in the community wanted to stay behind to fight and they have trained firefighters, access to heavy equipment and emergency plans to evacuate if they lost the battle with the fire.
He said an officer threatened to have the Ministry of Children and Family Services “remove all the children.”
Tempers flared and Alphonse said he suggested their own roadblocks would keep the Mounties out and if that didn’t work, perhaps warning shots above their heads would.
RCMP Staff Sgt. Annie Linteau said in a statement Wednesday, “as far as the comments made by Chief Alphonse, we do not believe the comments made are reflective of the recent and continued meetings and conversations we have had with the chief.”
The RCMP’s responsibility is to “advise the public that there has been an order and advise them of the risk associated with staying,” Linteau told reporters on a conference call.
“Of course, if the person has the ability to make their own decision and they are over the age of 19, we will not force them to leave the home,” she said.
But she said if there are children under 19 at risk, police are required to move them to a safe location. No children have been removed by the RCMP to date, she added.
Alphonse disagrees that officers were trying to protect their children.
“The safest place for our kids is here with their families under the supervision of the leadership of this community,” he said.
The Union of B.C. Indian Chiefs said Indigenous Peoples have a fundamental right to make decisions about protecting and defending the safety, health and well-being of their community.
“If and when houses and band infrastructure are lost to these fires, it will take years to rebuild and we fear in many instances the homes and infrastructure may never be built,” said Grand Chief Stewart Phillip.
Indigenous and Northern Affairs Canada said in a statement that the department is working with Emergency Management BC and First Nations to make sure the communities are supported.
B.C. Forest Minister John Rustad told radio station CHNL that the province was concerned about the situation.
“People are staying behind, they want to fight for their homes. That poses a very serious problem. We know these fires can be very, very volatile and can change at a moments notice,” Rustad said.
Ultimately, Alphonse said staying was the right decision and it saved at least 10 homes.
The chief of the Bonaparte Indian Band north of Ashcroft said they also defied an evacuation order over the weekend and successfully stopped flames from overrunning their reserve.
“My community has some really skilled firefighters, like a lot of First Nations reserves, and they came together and they stopped that wildfire from wiping out that whole community,” Chief Ryan Day said.
He said 60 of the band’s 280 members stayed to fight the fire.
The community doesn’t have a firehall, a new water reservoir hasn’t been connected to their main supply yet and they don’t have a formal emergency response plan in place.
But Day said the experience of the trained forest firefighters in his community and access to heavy equipment contributed to their success.
“We weren’t prepared for it of course because it happened in a blink of an eye, but we snapped into action and everyone did their part,” he said.
