Intertribal Life Newspaper -

CALGARY, AB—In Southern Alberta the recent flooding continues to wreak havoc. On June 24, 2013, it was announced that the Alberta Government approved funding of up to $1 billion to start rebuilding community dwellings destroyed by water damage and provide much needed support centers for residents who have been displaced from their homes. Meanwhile a leading scientist issued concerns that the landscape of Southern Alberta may well have been changed indefinitely.

Over 1,300 First Nation people are reported homeless, their homes submerged in muddy water. Roads are deemed useless due to water damage and flooding and clean drinking water is sparse. Remaining residents and those camping on higher ground are being advised to boil all water. Chief Fred Rabbit Carrier of the Siksika Nation told reporters, “I’ve never seen anything like this in my life! He added that the damage to his community and others was “devastating” and extremely “stressful”. Six First Nations communities continue to be severely affected. The Siksika Nation is badly affected, approximately 1,000 residents have been evacuated from their homes, located alongside the Bow River, east of Calgary. “We are in crisis mode...”

Robin Campbell, the Aboriginal relations minister, assured First Nation communities that he is keeping a close eye on the situation in Southern Alberta. Kevin Zahara, press secretary for Campbell, told reporters that “First Nations communities affected by flooding will receive the full support of emergency services that is being provided to all Alberta communities impacted by the floods.”

In 2011, Shawn Atleo, the Assembly of First Nation’s National Chief told The Canadian Press that Ottawa undervalued the property and lives of First Nation people in reserves while addressing the topic of flooding in Southern Manitoba. “I am personally so frustrated that our people who are already the most vulnerable, already the most impoverished, do not have the kind of protection that other citizens in the country have come to expect from their government.” 

Heather Carnahan, the Stoney Nation’s tribal administrator, felt that help and assistance to First Nation communities in Southern Alberta had been slow in arriving. They are now receiving much needed support as well as food parcels. “The magnitude of this event is huge,” she stated. The stress on First Nations people caused by flood damage is intensified by the sheer poverty suffered by the residents on a day to day basis. 

Many First Nations people are furious that the media coverage initially focused on clean up operations in Calgary while First Nations communities were left to fend for themselves, their homes surrounded in water. Chief Fred Rabbit Carrier told the CBC that while he was pleased with the final recognition by media crews over the weekend, they, “..had to beg for coverage!” He also has fears that as soon as the water subsides people will forget the Siksika Nation. “There is a sense of hopelessness.”