Six Nations donates $1K to Pikangikum, one month after tragic fire

The chief and council of the Six Nations community in southern Ontario has donated $1,000 dollars to Pikangikum, after a house fire in the remote northern Ontario First Nation killed nine people.  

"It comes from a sincere place of understanding as our First Nation, like many others ….have to continue to endure tragedy due to fire," said Six Nations police Chief Matthew Miller.

• Pikangikum fire's 9 dead included a baby, 2 young children
• Pikangikum First Nation in mourning after blaze kills 3 children, 6 adults

Miller says a similar tragedy happened 50 years ago on another southern Ontario reserve — Parry Island. On April 4, 1966 a house fire took the lives of nine children and two adults. 

"It's difficult to see 50 years later — that we're in 2016 — and First Nations across Canada are still experiencing fire tragedies at the scale they are," said Miller.

"The fire that occurred in Pikangikum was very tragic, but the larger tragedy of it all is these are going to occur on a regular basis, continuing into the future."

With the lack of support from government to create new infrastructure, "it's very difficult to have a safe community," he added.

The Six Nations fire department is well established, with four fire stations, and 52 firefighters that serve the population of 12,271 living on the reserve.

The community is in talks with the Ministry of Indigenous and Northern Affairs to provide fire fighting training to other First Nations. But in the meantime, Six Nations is donating money to Pikangikum to be used to rebuild after the tragic fire.

"We're not the most well-off First Nation in Canada, but we try to help out where we can with other First Nations," said Miller.