Two months after the people of Tataskweyak Cree Nation were forced to their community for forest fires and problems with the water treatment plant, they finally begin to return home.
In a live Facebook direction for community members on Monday night, Chief Doreen Spence said there will be a stepped return so that everyone does not return in mass.
The staff is on the way back now, and on Fridays and Saturdays, there will be flights from Winnipeg, first for elders and families with young children.
People will be transferred to Thompson and then by bus home with the community at Split Lake, about 115 kilometers northeast of Thompson.
“We are giving them the option to send someone home first to see their home, to clean it. Simply keep your family in Thompson until your home is a look or evaluated, because you might not be in good condition when you get home,” Spence said.
Tataskweyak First declared an emergency state on May 29 Due to a forest fire that caused the evacuation of about 200 people. A mandatory evacuation order for the remaining residents was issued the next day.
Some were fly as far as Niagara cataracts for hotel rooms, while others have stayed in Brandon and Winnipeg.
Tataskweyak has a registered population of 4,307, with approximately 2,500 living in the reserve, says Indigenous Services Canada.
The evacuation order was built on June 16, but before someone could return, a state of emergency was declared the next morning about the concerns about the community’s water treatment plant. Manitoba Hydro then published a notification of an energy cut throughout the community to repair energy structures that were damaged by the forest fire.
Not long after that, the flames returned to the community, quickly extended for strong winds. At least seven houses were destroyed.
In his live direction on Facebook, Spence said people will probably have to throw all the food in their refrigerators and freezers due to energy cuts.
It was not until July 22 that the water treatment plant was once again operational, but a publication on social networks said it was still necessary to do a job, including the rinsed water lines and the performance of water quality tests, before residents could return.
Although the fire remains out of control of 25,225 hectares, the most recent update of the province, on July 27, said Tataskweyak is safely.
