Articles
“A judge examining the deaths of three children and a grandfather in house fires on remote northern Manitoba reserves says all First Nations communities should have 911 service.
In her final report released Wednesday, Judge Tracey Lord recommended the emergency dispatch service be established on all reserves. She also recommended better co-ordinated firefighting training for First Nations communities and greater priority of fire safety inspections.”
– The Star, Fire inquest calls for 911 service for all First Nations.
“Lack of firefighter training as well as inadequate equipment and communications systems are some of the factors that an inquest identified as having played a role in two 2011 fires in Northern Manitoba that killed four people, all but one of whom were three years old or younger.
Errabella Harper, a two-and-a-half-month-old baby, died Jan. 16, 2011 when a house in St. Theresa Point where she and five other children were sleeping caught fire. People who saw the fire and came to help were unable to gain access to the bedroom she was sleeping in because there were blankets covering the window. Errabella Harper was pulled out of the house when someone broke the window and another person used a chainsaw to cut a hole in the wall. The other children, who ranged in age from one to 13, all managed to escape or were rescued.
Seventy-three-year-old Demus James, three-year-old Kayleigh Okemow and two-year-old Throne Kirkness died in a fire in God’s Lake First Nation on March 14, 2011. People who arrived on the scene had to kick in the front door of that house because it was locked or blocked from the inside and had trouble gaining access through the windows because they were covered with plastic. None of the three victims made it out of the house before the fire was put out.”
– Thompson Citizen, No functioning fire trucks in First Nations where 2011 fires killed four people, inquest hears.
Download
Download the 18″x24″ poster, Indian Country 52 #47 – 911 is a Joke.
Close Ups
Indian Country 52
Indian Country 52 is a weekly project by David Bernie that uses the medium of posters that promote issues and stories in Indian Country.
Creative Commons License
This work by David Bernie is licensed under a Creative Commons Attribution-NonCommercial-NoDerivatives 4.0 International License. You may download, share, and post the images under the condition that the works are attributed to the artist.
