irtc emergency management: manitoba snowstorm 2019 · 2020. 1. 20. · - irtc’s emergency...
TRANSCRIPT
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IRTC Emergency Management: Manitoba Snowstorm 2019
Preparedness Matters!Manitoba Snow Storm 2019
Karl Zadnik, CEO, Interlake Reserves Tribal Council
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Interlake Reserves Tribal Council - A consortium of Six Interlake Communities
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Presentation Outline
4 Introduction4Context4Snowstorm & Power Outage4Evacuation, Response & Return
Home4Challenges & Future Preparedness
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Snow Storm & Power Outage
• On Friday October 11, 2019, Southern Manitoba experienced a serious snow + ice storm.
• Hydro powerlines, roads, and infrastructure were severely affected
• Six of our member communities (Peguis, Pinaymootang, Lake Manitoba, Dauphin River, Kinonjeoshteghon, and Little Saskatchewan First Nations)
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State of Emergency Declared – October 12th, 2019
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State of Emergency
- Over 6000 people evacuated
- All communities were united
- IRTC’s emergency management program
- Mock exercises and preparedness have been conducted – in the past three years – in all our communities
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State of Emergency
- The reality of going through such an experience is deeply challenging
- Our approach was guided by the 4 pillars of emergency management: prevention & mitigation;preparedness;response;and recovery
- However, systemic racism and inadequate policies posed serious challenges
during this process.
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Challenges & Response
- Federal Government policies are outdated
- Our staff of 35 responded in a timely fashion – professionally and with empathy
- We developed a system immediately for restoration and logistics
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Challenges & Response
- We created an organisational chart (divided into 4 departments), spreadsheet, and two working shifts for staff
- Departments included: operations, planning, logistics, finance administration
- Emergency lasted 30 days
- Hotel bookings, meals, basic necessities, gas purchases, and more
- IRTC out of pocket costs was close to $5million dollars
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Challenges & Response
- The experience provided our communities the opportunity to show our unitedness and strengths
- At the moment, we are still awaiting reimbursement and infrastructure upgrade in our communities
- Each community out of pocket costs is in the $millions
- The need to be recognised as equal partners with other municipalities
Makeshift command centre
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Future Preparedness
- For further capacity building, emergency management plan has to be developed for each community
- Forged partnership with Calian 1.5 years ago
- Develop an After Action Report
- Assist other communities in Emergency planning and training
- Special thanks to all our staff, AFN, and all community leadership:
Chief Cornell McleanChief Garnet WoodhouseChief Glenn HudsonChief John StaggChief Hector ShortingChief Dave Traverse
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Miigwetch
Questions