Jordan McPhail
Submitted
First, I want to thank the incredible frontline emergency responders and firefighters for all they have done for the North, keeping people safe and protecting our communities as best they can.
Your efforts have been incredible, more than we could ever ask. We know you need support even as the worst of the crisis appears to be behind us. The Saskatchewan NDP has demanded the province call in federal aid when we knew our front lines were under-resourced and exhausted. We know the Federal Government has said military personnel could be on the ground in the North within 24 hours and we know that would go along way to helping with transporting people, medical attention and in the event more fires occur.
We’ve also been adamant that more must be done to support 15,000 people forced from their homes. Many have still not returned to their communities and don’t what they’re returning to. I have fielded hundreds and hundreds of calls from evacuees forced to sleep in tents, in their cars and unable to get any form of financial aid. Some have told me they were given a voucher for a specific grocery store only to find that the nearest location was 300 kilometres away.
I’ve heard your concerns and so has the provincial Ombudsman, who has committed to a full investigation when this crisis ends.
In the meantime, the Saskatchewan NDP will keep standing in your corner, ready to help in any way we can. My heart is with every person displaced, every child trying to sleep on a gymnasium floor, every family trying to figure out what tomorrow looks like. The weight you’re carrying is heavy, and no one should be expected to carry it alone.
To the volunteers opening up evacuation centres, cooking meals, looking after children and elders — thank you. You are the heart of this province. You are the reason we still believe in community, even when everything else feels uncertain.
Northern Saskatchewan has been through hard times before, and we’ll get through this too.
Our love for each other is stronger. Our communities are made of people who show up — over and over again — even when it’s hard, even when it hurts.
We will get home.
We will recover.
We will rebuild what has been lost.
The North will endure.
