WILLIAMS LAKE, B.C. — The governments of British Columbia and Canada have announced $9 million in total funding for disaster resilience projects for the Tŝilhqot’in people in B.C.
B.C. is providing $5 million to the Tŝilhqot’in National Government for a feasibility study to determine what type of emergency infrastructure is needed and $1 million for governance and operations support for the next four years of the Collaborative Emergency Management Agreement.
CEMA is an agreement between the federal, provincial and Tŝilhqot’in governments to develop and implement emergency strategies in the region, according to a news release.
The federal government is investing $2 million in CEMA and another $1 million in the Tŝilhqot’in government’s Emergency Management – Wildfire Capacity Building project.
The wildfire project will recruit and train 20 community members and help establish firefighting crews in the six Tŝilhqot’in communities.
“The history of wildfire management in the province has shown us that First Nations are often at the front lines and need to be empowered,” said Tŝilhqot’in Chief Joe Alphonse in the release.
“Groundbreaking agreements like CEMA are needed to ensure First Nations have an active and leading role in emergencies.”
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