Anishinabek Nation decries lack of support for fire-ravaged Collins, ON

[00:00:01]I'm Rick Harp. This is your APTN [music] News Brief for Monday, July 20th.

[00:00:06]We open in northern Ontario and the First Nations first look at the utter devastation wrought by recent wildfire.

[00:00:13]And while Collins tries to pick up the pieces, leadership of the Anishinabek Nation has called out governments for their lack of support. Mike McDonald reports.

[00:00:23]>> They had no help and they have to do it on their own and they did.

[00:00:27]>> Footage taken from an Ontario Ministry of Natural Resources helicopter shows the aftermath of the wildfire that destroyed the community of Nemegasegiin First Nation, also known as Collins.

[00:00:37]Chief Helen Pawlowski says she was shown the footage during a meeting with Ministry officials.

[00:00:42]>> They did a preliminary flyover of the community and I heard of the video.

[00:00:48]Um so, going into the meeting they wanted to give me an overview of the provincial fires. That's not what I was there for.

[00:00:58]So, I just straight away asked, "I know there's a video, show me."

[00:01:02]And unfortunately, and you know, I did uh break down.

[00:01:06]>> Chief Pawlowski reiterates that it was members of the community that facilitated the evacuation.

[00:01:11]>> It was just a matter of minutes before my members would have died.

[00:01:15]And you know, even during that whole time, there was no help.

[00:01:20]>> Nemegasegiin does not have official band status, which has seemingly placed the community in a jurisdictional gray area.

[00:01:26]On Thursday at the AFN's Chiefs Meeting, Anishinabek Nation Grand Council Chief Linda Debassige called out the Ontario and federal governments for not acting.

[00:01:34]>> They're being treated as a jurisdictional pinball between both the federal government and provincial government. There have been no financial or human resource supports to support this community presently and throughout the entire week.

[00:01:50]Us on our own, our First Nations in Ontario, the Anishinabek Nation have been the only support to this community, a community that has been devastated and left to ashes.

[00:02:01]>> The Anishinaabe Nation has been at the, you know, right there since, like, right at the beginning. And they have they have given us overwhelming support. The The chiefs have called The chiefs are donating, you know, uh they stood up, they're you know, standing up for us at the assembly.

[00:02:17]Uh The Anishinaabe Nation has [clears throat] given us uh overwhelming support.

[00:02:22]>> Donations have been arriving at the communities Thunder Bay offices. This collection of donations being delivered by the Nokiiwin Tribal Council. The Anishinaabe Nation's Seventh Generation Charities accepting monetary donations to help displaced residents. Mike McDonald, APTN National News, Thunder Bay.

[00:02:38]>> Multiple ribs broken, lungs punctured, along with damage to her spine and pelvis. Yet, despite her injuries sustained when struck by a car at a pedestrian crossing, the teenager spent only 8 days in Winnipeg hospital, now back in her Brandon home. With more on what happened, Keira Stevens.

[00:02:58]>> I was walking I just pressed the button like four times because there was like cars speeding all that.

[00:03:03]>> In Brandon, Manitoba, on July 7th, Faith Fleet was at a marked pedestrian crosswalk on her way to work.

[00:03:09]>> And then the other car stopped.

[00:03:11]And then I was like, okay, maybe I'm safe to go. So, I started walking and then all of a sudden I thought that car, I don't even remember what the car looked like. I just only remember it's just getting around and my boss seen it all go down.

[00:03:25]>> I think I was in shock. I didn't I thought the worst away. I thought my baby was gone.

[00:03:30]>> Krista McPherson is Faith's mom. She was at home waiting for a ride when Faith's boss called her.

[00:03:36]>> My coworker, he drove me right straight to the scene. I got out, they had her in the ambulance already and wouldn't let me see her, wouldn't let me in the ambulance.

[00:03:47]>> McPherson found her own way to the emergency room. When she got there, >> she was hysterical, she was in pain. I could hear her screaming the second I entered the ER entrance.

[00:03:59]So, I just went right to the room. I knew I could I just followed her cries.

[00:04:04]>> Faith says she can't understand why Brandon police officer arrived so quickly to take a statement.

[00:04:09]>> They tried to ask more questions, but I was like, I I I really can't. I didn't even understand what they were saying cuz everything was moving so fast and my body was aching and like I couldn't feel my legs. That was the big thing. I couldn't feel my legs. I couldn't I couldn't move. I couldn't like do anything. I felt like I was dead.

[00:04:28]>> Uh the investigating officer was just It was unbelievable. I was in shock still from the accident, but then even more shocked by how I was being spoken to by the person that I thought was going to be helping us.

[00:04:42]>> Faith had nine broken ribs, two punctured lungs, a fractured spine, and her pelvis was broken in three places.

[00:04:50]But, in spite of this, she's recovering fast at home. She was discharged from the Children's Hospital on July 15th.

[00:04:57]>> Faith's been the most strongest, resilient person I know. She's She's shocked the doctors, the surgeons, her physio. She shocked myself.

[00:05:08]>> Before the accident, Faith enjoyed being outside, going for walks, playing badminton.

[00:05:13]>> But now, even I'm just too scared to even step outside now. When my mom would push me out of her car and when my mom would take me out in the wheelchair, I wouldn't even I wouldn't even like want to like go close to the road like at all. I still don't want to.

[00:05:31]>> Since the accident, Krista McPherson quit her job to look after Faith full-time. Both mother and daughter hope this story teaches drivers to keep their eyes on the road. According to Brandon police, the driver who hit Faith remained at the scene. They say the case is still under investigation and no charges have been laid. Keira Stevens, APTN National News, Winnipeg.

[00:05:52]>> Not long ago on the brief, we reported on new data about Canadian maternity care and its picture of widespread mistreatment and disrespect of indigenous people. And of the 6,000 mothers surveyed, just over 300 self-declared as First Nations, Inuit, or Métis. With a look at one Anishinaabe woman's review of the data, Tiara Weatley.

[00:06:13]>> Take me to the moon.

[00:06:16]>> You wouldn't know it now watching Mackenzie Morasti play with her energetic 5-year-old son, Jacoby.

[00:06:22]>> Mom.

[00:06:24]>> She had a long recovery after an emergency C-section birth in November 2020 when she was 16.

[00:06:30]>> They inserted my epidural and it wasn't inserted right. It I felt everything on this side of my body.

[00:06:40]I felt them cutting me open.

[00:06:43]I felt my baby come out of me.

[00:06:46]And I felt them putting me back together.

[00:06:47]>> Mackenzie says she was isolated for over a week from her baby's father, family, and didn't get much help from hospital staff.

[00:06:54]>> Couldn't walk or nothing.

[00:06:56]I was in a lot of pain.

[00:06:58]And I didn't really get a help from the the the night staff, I guess.

[00:07:04]They actually starved my baby.

[00:07:08]>> [snorts] >> I don't want anybody go through that again.

[00:07:12]I don't want to let anybody go what I went through.

[00:07:15]>> Jacoby was born at Saint Anthony's Hospital in The Pas, Manitoba. In 2025, Mackenzie's doctor was found guilty of professional misconduct by the College of Physicians and Surgeons. Not for her, but for four other patients.

[00:07:28]>> I wish I had the other doctor, honestly.

[00:07:31]But, I didn't really have a choice.

[00:07:33]>> New data from Canada's first national survey examining respectful maternity care shows Mackenzie's experience isn't isolated.

[00:07:40]>> These women are already under a great deal of stress, especially women that are coming from our northern communities.

[00:07:46]>> Wanda Phillip back as a nurse and research scholar. She reviewed the experience of 309 indigenous mothers out of 6,000 in the study which ran between July 2020 and February 2022.

[00:07:57]>> We can make a huge difference in our health care system when we just spend a little bit more time explaining and being sensitive to their needs.

[00:08:03]>> Nearly 75% of the indigenous mothers in the study say they were disrespected, faced discrimination, left unattended, and did not get the care they needed.

[00:08:13]>> Procedures uh performed on them without having adequate consent or being coerced into to certain procedures that they didn't necessarily um have enough information about. And some of those are unfortunately sterilizations and C-sections.

[00:08:30]>> Phillips-Backs says the study offers solutions including the importance of indigenous midwives.

[00:08:35]>> Doesn't necessarily mean that we deliver our babies in every community because we just don't have the resources to support that in every community. But what we can have is a midwife and that culturally um sensitive care that uh would go a long way >> And having a midwife could have made a difference for McKenzie and Jacoby in 2020.

[00:08:57]>> I didn't see anybody. Basically, I was practically by myself.

[00:09:01]>> Cookies.

[00:09:03]>> I took >> While McKenzie wasn't in the study, she believes its numbers after an experience that's left her scarred and scared to have another baby. Here are Weetly, APTN National News, Winnipeg.

[00:09:14]>> And finally, the opening of a new facility is set for today in Vancouver.

[00:09:18]Created by the United Church of Canada, the $81 million project is 9 years in the making and the first United facility will provide free low-barrier services and supports to people living in Vancouver's Downtown Eastside.

[00:09:33]>> You can come in, you can have a coffee, you can get your filtered water, you can get harm reduction, you can go to our community hub and pick up your mail, you can pick up socks and toiletries, you can have a shower, you can have one of the best meals, you can go get legal services for free, you can file your taxes, you can have a nap, you can sit and just be and charge your phone and not be shooed away.

[00:09:55]>> The 40,000 square foot facility offers community gathering spaces, climate refuge during extreme weather, spiritual care, and dedicated programming for women. A presence in the Downtown Eastside since 1885, First United's facility features indigenous touches meant to welcome the area's large proportion of indigenous people.

[00:10:15]>> First United is part of the United Church of Canada, and we have a history of running residential schools. And we have since apologized, but it is a very clear goal of ours to continue this work with reconciliation. We know there can be no reconciliation without the truth, and we also know there can be no reconciliation without action, and that is why we embarked on tearing down a church to show that commitment to this work.

[00:10:39]>> [music] >> And that's your APTN News Brief for Monday, July 20th.

[00:10:44]I'm Rick Harp.