The Wildfire Effects Most People Don’t See – Canadaland

For Little Grand Rapids and other remote First Nations, the worst devastation often comes after the blaze

“I was brought here out of desperation,” reporter Sarah Lawrynuik says of a late-September trip she took to Little Grand Rapids, an Anishinaabe community in Eastern Manitoba, accessible only by air and ice road.

Band councillor Blair Owen and his father Oliver, the owner of Amik Aviation, were trying to get media’s attention on the community, so Manitoba Hydro would expedite repair of a transmission line damaged by wildfires in July. The population had been evacuated due to the fires, but over two months later was still unable to return due to the persistent loss of power.

“They worry the longer their people are stranded in hotels all across Winnipeg,” says Sarah, “the deeper the damage will run.”

Read More: https://www.canadaland.com/first-nations-wildfire-evacuation/