More needs to be done to involve First Nations in emergency management, says Indigenous leader

Provincial and local authorities need to do more to involve First Nations in their emergency management plans, says Stó:lo Tribal Council Chief Tyrone McNeil. 

McNeil says the B.C. government is not providing enough direction to local and regional governments on how to work with adjacent First Nations in emergency situations. 

"We are not seeing it, we're not feeling it," McNeil told CBC's The Early Edition. "We need to change that."

As an example, McNeil says the town of Hope, about 152 kilometres east of Vancouver, issued an evacuation order during a wildfire last year, including a nearby Trans Mountain work camp located on the Shxw'ow'hamel reserve. 

"But when Shxw'ow'hamel phoned the town — they said 'What about us?' — the town says, 'Oh no, you're fine,'" said McNeil. 

"That work camp is on the same reserve these people are living on, they're left on their own." 

Emergency planning challenges are compounded for remote First Nations communities that may not have nearby support networks to help during crisis, McNeil says. 

McNeil is chair of the Emergency Planning Secretariat (EPS), a collaboration among 31 mainland Coast Salish communities to improve emergency planning at a regional level. 

He says they are in the early stages of developing a provincewide First Nations regional action plan.

Bowinn Ma, B.C.'s minister of emergency management, says the Emergency Program Act gives the province powers to react to crises, but "does not recognize the existence of Indigenous people or their inherent rights and authorities during emergency situations."

She said the province is working to modernize emergency management legislation to require local governments and other emergency management partners to work with First Nations through all four levels of emergency management: preparation, mitigation, response and recovery.

She went on to say legislation set to be tabled this fall was co-developed with First Nations.

"In the meantime, we're encouraging communities to start that work right now and many communities are already doing a good job of it and we're working with them on this," Ma said.

McNeil's comments come as Western Canada braces for an unseasonable heat wave and dry spell that will raise the risk of wildfires in B.C. and Alberta over the coming days.