First Nation searching for displaced members, running low on supplies

The chief of a northern First Nation is frantically trying to locate his members.

Mikisew Cree First Nation is based in Fort Chipewyan on the northern edge of the Regional Municipality of Wood Buffalo, but many members work and live in Fort McMurray and other communities in the region.

For those outside the fly-in only community, 80-seater planes began transporting members from around Wood Buffalo to Fort Chipewyan Tuesday night.

Chief Steve Courtorielle says MCFN is getting help from oil companies and the province, but the community is in response mode and still trying to find people and recover from a harrowing evacuation.

“One little child, single mother, asking his mother when the flames are around ‘Mom are we going to die?’ That’s really traumatizing for this child so we’re reacting to these issues,” says Courtorielle.

He says smoke is getting heavy in the area and some people with respiratory issues had to be airlifted to hospital in Edmonton.

Chief Courtorielle says when the fire is finally out, officials may have to follow in the footsteps of Slave Lake.

“We’re going to have to bring in temporary housing by way of mobile homes into Fort McMurray to house all the people that need to be taken care of,” he says.

Supplies are also running low. Courtorielle says there’s only enough groceries left to last the community just a few more days, but it is getting help from the province to handle that.

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