Canada _ (Commonwealth Union) _ As a fire ripped through a residence in Pikangikum First Nation, three people including an eight-year-old child have now been officially pronounced dead. On Wednesday night last week, a fire started in an Ojibway settlement in northwest Ontario.
Pikangikum peacekeepers were unable to put out the fire due to technical problems with both of the village fire engines, according to community leaders. Three deaths were found, and the investigation remained ongoing, according to the Ontario Provincial Police on Saturday.
Chief Shirley Lynne Keeper said in a community release, “How many more house fires do we have to go through until the government gets serious? “These losses have had a long-lasting and upsetting effect on the community.”
On Tuesday, NDP MPP Sol Mamakwa asked for a community fire hall while reading aloud the names and ages of the victims of the Pikangikum accident at Queen’s Park in Toronto.
The three are identified as follows: Kirsten Moose, 38; Vernie Turtle, 44; and Kendriyanna Turtle, 8. One resident of the neighborhood told me they were repeating a nightmare, according to Mamakwa. “On Saturday, I was there. They are unable to extinguish the fire, thus after three days the home was still burning. In order to prevent such incidents, our administration must commit to building a fire hall for Pikangikum.”
Mamakawa was alluding to another tragic fire in the neighborhood that occurred on March 29, 2016, leaving nine people dead, including an infant. The First Nation has been in contact with Greg Rickford, Ontario’s minister of Indigenous affairs, since the fire last week, according to Mamakwa.
As the member points out, there was a fire that claimed the lives of three community members. Rickford said, “We recognise this sorrow and I had an opportunity to talk to my lifelong friend Chief Dean Owen soon afterwards.”
In response to a request from the community, the Independent First Nations Alliance (IFNA) is running an emergency operations center and coordinating help with partners from the provincial, federal, and other First Nations.
