How do you uproot an entire community and ensure it doesn’t fall apart? How do you help neighbours when they’re stressed and living in cramped confines far from home? How do you give structure to the kids? How do you keep hopes high?
These are not the kinds of questions Chief Leonard Mamakeesic thought he’d be grappling with 10 days ago, when his fly-in community of Deer Lake First Nation was surrounded by wildfire and their only means of escape — the airport — was unable to operate due to the thick smoke.
After a heroic effort by the Ontario Fire Rangers to beat back the flames, the airport was reopened and the entire community of 900 was evacuated to a cluster of hotels near Pearson airport.Now, as the adrenaline of the escape subsides, and the mundanity of hotel life sets in, Mamakeesic is worried about many things, including drugs and alcohol — contraband his dry community used to stop at a security checkpoint on the edge of town.
For the rest of this article: https://www.thestar.com/news/canada/i-want-to-go-home-raging-wildfires-threaten-their-northern-ontario-community-now-theyre-grappling/article_ba933ecd-6854-4b1a-92bd-f27eec41ffb3.html