A afflicted father of a first nation in northern Manitoba says that he spent days calling the officials and presenting paperwork before he was allowed to take his son’s remains to his evacuated community of his home for the burial.
But even after fighting to get that approval, Andrew Colomb says he had less than three hours to fly and by boat to the community, dig the tomb of his son and leave his body to rest, without leaving time for traditions or even a ceremony to say goodbye.
“I had to negotiate very hard … take my loved one home,” said Colomb, who is from Marcel Columbrest Nation, about 800 kilometers northwest of Winnipeg.
“But there is no planning for this type of situation until it happens. It is very difficult for people to be properly supported.”
The 35 -year -old son of Colomb, Featherstone, died in Brandon, Man., August 1. His death occurred suddenly, Colombia said, less than a month after he and his two children were forced by forest fires of his house in Marcel Columbre Glass Nation.
CBC has agreed not to use Featherstone’s last name.
To honor the life of his son, whom he remembers as a quiet and helpful man, Colombia planned to place Featherstone to rest under traditional practices, including the return of his body to the community where he grew up.
But the first remote nation, which does not have road access throughout the year, remains under a mandatory evacuation order, restricting access for all residents, even in the case of Colomb.
“There is no recognition of human impact. It is more procedure and political,” he said. “That was first.”
With Featherstone’s body held in a morgue in the city of Northern Manitoba de los Pas, Colombia contacted the conservation of RCMP and Manitoba to request an exemption for a burial in the first nation of Marcel Colomb.
The request was bouncing from one side to another between the two, says Colomb, before the conservation told him to call around August 13, three days before the burial planned, to obtain confirmation.
“We weren’t sure if we were going to do it. That was hell for me,” he said.
The family was finally authorized by conservation to fly Featherstone’s body to Lynn Lake, the closest city with an airport, on Saturday, August 16.
They were able to obtain a plane from a neighboring community to fly, but since it was being used by the Hydroelectric equipment of Manitoba that worked to restore power, it was only available for a half -hour window and half an hour, during which Colomb would have to fly, bury his son and leave the first nation.
From the Lynn Airport, they had to drive with the coffin and then take it by boat to Marcel Colomb. Only six relatives flew to the community: the burial occurred without other family and friends, Colombia said.
“We did a small ceremony there, and that was,” he said.
It was a goodbye without ceremonies, a “cowboy burial” without speeches, without sacred fire, without dancing round or party to say goodbye, only the tomb was excavated by essential workers who stayed in Marcel Colomb, and Featherstone’s body went down to rest, Colombia said.
“There were no hugs. It was like running against the time to accommodate [it]”, said.
“It hurts when things are not done correctly. It is more like a half -patch job, and simply stinks.”
Lack of empathy: Cao
Colomb said that his experience is an opportunity for emergency assistance agencies, including the Manitoba government, to learn how to better support the families of the evacuees who experience a death in the family.
A provincial spokesman said that Manitoba works with local governments and partners such as the Department of Federal Indigenous Services to ensure that the appropriate culturally supports are available in case of a death or a family that needs assistance.
Indigenous Services Canada said that it is providing funds to several first nations for the support of mental well -being, including suppliers that can support the evacuees who have lost a loved one.
But Colombia believes that your application could have settled before, and it would have had more time for the funeral if the province had supplied the plane.
Marcel Colombia Columbus Director of Nation, Don McCallum, agrees.
The forest fires that forced the residents of the community in early July retreated, said, and without an imminent threat to family safety, Colombia’s request had been authorized by the Community Council before conservation granted the approval.
McCallum said that the consent of the community should have been enough to allow burial, instead of having to go through the conservation of Manitoba.
“It’s worrying because they are basically telling us: ‘You can’t go until we say it,” he said.
Marcel Colomb is waiting for Manitoba Hydro to restore energy before lifting his evacuation order. But without a fixed timeline for a return, McCallum said Colombia’s request should have been accommodated.
“They put many obstacles,” he said. “The department was not very empathic, and they put too many limitations to apply the rules when it was unnecessary.”
System ‘fragmented, slow’
The deputy director of Pukatawagan, Kelly Linklater, told CBC News that at least two evacuees have died since Northern Manitoba First Nation was evacuated at the end of May. He refused to share details out of respect for their families.
A Manitoba Keewatinowi Okimakanak spokesman said that the organization, which represents the north of Manitoba’s first nations, is aware of evacuations deaths and said she is committed to supporting families.
The problems around the death of the people of the first nations during the evacuations are not just a problem in Manitoba, said Brad Ison, the director of Operations in Hazardscape, an organization that supports the first nations with their emergency management programs and disaster assistance.
In Canada, the established systems to help families that lose a loved one are often reactive, focused on covering costs after a burial instead of having an established protocol to provide worthy care, Ison said.
“The current repatriation process is fragmented, slow and culturally insensitive,” he said.
Delays in moving a body after an evacuated member of the first nation dies often comes from multiple layers of approval and a non -coordinated system that involves different authorities, while the first nations in themselves are generally excluded, he said.
Those barriers could simplify themselves, said Ison.
The spaces in the centers where the evacuees stay must identify and make available to the estuaries, he said. The paperwork must condense, and communication with the family must be handled by an incident commander with the help of the cultural link, such as a guardian of knowledge or an old man.
“You must be able to expand that system quickly and quickly to deal with [repatriation]”He said.” In some communities … you have to treat the body in a certain way, and it has to get where it must be in a certain timeline, “which must be respected, he said.
It must also depend on the first nation to decide whether to allow a family to return to a community to bury a loved one, Ison said.
“If someone evaluates that the risk for their culture and traditions and their loved ones who have died is higher [than] What is the current risk of fire, then they have made a decision, “he said.
Andrew Colomb says that he was given about three hours to take Marcel Colombia Fold Nation in the north of Manitoba, dig the grave and bury the 35 -year -old man, who died in Brandon earlier this month.
