Ontario spending more than $500K to support Eabametoong First Nation's recovery after devastating school fire
The province is spending more than half a million dollars to help Eabame‐ toong First Nation (EFN) as the northwestern Ontario community strives to get a temporary school up and running by the fall.
The remote Ojibway com‐ munity of roughly 1,600 peo‐ ple lost its only school to a fire on Jan. 25. Four teenagers were charged with arson in connection with the blaze, which displaced about 300 students from kinder‐ garten to Grade 9.
On Wednesday, Ontario announced $540,000 for Eabametoong:
$250,000 to support com‐ munity needs including tran‐ sition supports for Grade 9 students, emergency sup‐ plies, food, and mental health and well-being. $150,000 to support children and youth in the community who have been affected by the loss of their school. $120,000 for mental health, land-based programming, and health and safety. $20,000 for emergency food security needs.
The money comes from three provincial ministries: Indigenous Affairs; Children, Community and Social Ser‐ vices; and Tourism, Culture and Sport.
"Ensuring the safety and well-being of Indigenous communities, particularly during times of crisis, is a top priority for our government," said Greg Rickford, Minister of Indigenous Affairs, in a news release Wednesday.
"Our team mobilized quickly and continues to work closely with Eabame‐ toong First Nation to identify the community's needs and help rebuild crucial infra‐ structure to sustain the com‐ munity's strength and vital‐ ity."
WATCH | Eabametoong First Nation demands sup‐ port for new school after devastating fire
Eabametoong's Chief Solomon Atlookan said he's grateful for support from Rickford and his team in making sure the province rec‐ ognized "that the deeper mental and social health is‐ sues that cause this destruc‐ tion need to be addressed not just putting up a build‐ ing."
"We are working together to support the healing and recovery of our people so that Eabametoong can thrive again. EFN's chief and council are appreciative of the rapid and sincere actions taken by Ontario to work with us through this trying time," At‐ lookan said in a news release Wednesday.
After meeting with At‐ lookan in mid-February, fed‐ eral Minister of Indigenous Services, Patty Hajdu, an‐ nounced more than $13 mil‐ lion "to help the community buy, bring in, build and fully furnish five modular build‐ ings."
"This is on top of the $3.7 million we invested up to date for educational re‐ sources, additional teachers, supplies and essential men‐ tal health services for the students," said Hajdu's thenpress secretary, Reem Sheet, in an email to CBC News.
'Our local infrastructure has been severely im‐ pacted'
There have been four signifi‐ cant fires in northwestern Ontario's First Nations so far in 2024. In addition to the blaze in Eabametoong:
Last July, a fire at Eabame‐ toong's water treatment plant forced a community evacuation, which lasted about three weeks. That fire was also determined to be arson.
"Our local infrastructure has been severely impacted, our students no longer have a school, our families no longer have a recreation and gathering place, and it will be years until a new one is built. That is hard for most people in Ontario to comprehend," Atlookan said in Wednes‐ day's news release.
Once the temporary school is ready, ideally by September, Atlookan said he's hoping to get to work as
soon as possible planning for a new permanent school.
In addition to the money earmarked for Eabametoong, the Ministry of Education says it's spending an addi‐ tional $240,000 to support the Keewatin Patricia District
School Board's Rapid Re‐ sponse Northern Schools Team.
The team provides crisis and education support as re‐ quested from First Nation community schools, as well as support for students tran‐ sitioning from their home communities to provinciallyfunded schools elsewhere.
Students from Eabame‐ toong typically move to Thunder Bay to complete their high school education in Grade 10. However, the fire forced more than a dozen Grade 9 students to move to the city early.
"Our priority is to help en‐ sure students have the re‐ sources they need for unin‐ terrupted learning during this very difficult time, along with assisting school staff to continue to deliver educa‐ tion, mental health resources and well-being supports," said Minister of Education Stephen Lecce in Wednes‐ day's news release.
"The importance of main‐ taining a sense of normalcy as the community - specifi‐ cally students - recover from the loss of their school is first and foremost."