Red Cross workers and volunteers are helping to ease the transition for evacuees from the Attawapiskat First Nation, who were flown out of the northern Ontario reserve after a devastating fire forced an evacuation.
About 70 Attawapiskat residents were flown Saturday to the town of Kapuskasing, Ont., located about 400 kilometres south. It is not yet known how long the residents will stay there, where they are being temporarily housed in a motel.
For many of the evacuees it's not the first time they have found a temporary home in the town of about 8,000.
Kapuskasing Mayor Alan Spacek told Â鶹´«Ã½ that the town's residents are always ready to help.
"Certainly in times of need, when our neighbours need help, we're there to help them," Spacek said Saturday, noting that the Attawapiskat evacuees have faced a stressful experience.
"(We want to) provide as many comforts as we can for them, and try and take their mind off of the stressful situation that I am sure they came out of in their home community," he said.
The residents were flown out of Attawapiskat after a fire tore through a trailer compound on Friday. A candle, used for lighting after a mid-week storm knocked out power, is believed to have caused the blaze, Attawapiskat officials said in a statement released on Saturday.
The residents had been living in the trailers after they were donated in 2007 by De Beers Canada, after the community's sewage infrastructure collapsed. The trailers were meant to serve as temporary housing, Attawapiskat officials said.
In Kapuskasing, Red Cross workers and volunteers welcomed the residents with a hot meal and relief packages. Local Red Cross coordinator Mike Grant said the evacuees were thankful for the small comforts.
"They're very grateful that they have a place to go and that the help is there and the assistance," he said.
NDP MPP Gilles Bisson said the evacuation speaks to a much larger problem.
"Well, I think it speaks to the inadequacy of housing policies on reserves across this country," he said. "The housing policy that the federal government has put in place on reserves really doesn't serve anybody's interest."
Minister of Aboriginal Affairs and Northern Development Bernard Valcourt said in a statement Saturday that the ministry is committed to finding sustainable housing solutions for Attawapiskat residents. The government is currently working with the band council to help with planning and securing land and serviced lots, the statement said.
Attawapiskat first came to national attention after a 2011 housing crisis triggered a state of emergency.
The Conservative government has accused the band of mismanaging about $90 million in federal funds it has received since 2005.
Last December, Attawapiskat Chief Theresa Spence staged a six-week hunger protest to bring attention to living conditions on reserves and treaty issues.
With a report from CTV Northern Ontario's Kyle Jennings
