Wednesday, September 25, 2019
Serving the Hub of the North since 1960
Volume 59 • Issue 39
North tower evacuated around 1:30 a.m. after fire believed to be arson Fire department orders building shut down until repairs are made to make it safe for occupancy TAKE BACK THE NIGHT MARCH BIGGER THAN USUAL NEWS PAGE 3
THOMPSON MARKS SIXTH PRIDE WEEK NEWS PAGE 4
All the residents of the Forest View Suites (formerly Princeton Towers) north building were evacuated early Sept. 23 after a fire that RCMP suspect was started deliberately. The City of Thompson says Thompson Fire & Emergency Services (TFES) responded to the fire at 1:28 a.m. and that it was contained to the fifth floor, though many levels of the nine-floor building were filled with heavy smoke. Thompson RCMP said no injuries were reported but one person was taken to Thompson General Hospital for minor smoke inhalation. Evacuated residents were asked to report to the Thompson Regional Community Centre Sept. 23 to be accounted for and to register with the Red Cross by 6 p.m. Monday in order to be eligible for 72-hour emergency relief including food, accommodations and other emergency essentials. A Red Cross spokesperson said Monday morning that the organization was providing blankets to people displaced by the fire while other arrangements were being made. The City of Thompson said in a press release around Continued on Page 2
Thompson Citizen photo by Ian Graham The north tower of Forest View Suites, formerly known as Princeton Towers, seen here Sept. 13, was evacuated early Sept. 23 after a fire on the fifth floor that police believe to be the result of arson. After investigation by RCMP and the Manitoba Office of the Fire Commissioner, Thompson Fire & Emergency Services deemed the building unsafe for occupancy until repairs have been done and the building brought up to fire code requirements.
Railway, high food prices and how to curb drug crisis among topics tackled at Thompson federal election town hall BY IAN GRAHAM
EDITOR@THOMPSONCITIZEN.NET
Questions for federal election candidates at the I’m First Nation and I Vote town hall organized by the Assembly of Manitoba Chiefs (AMC) in Thompson Sept. 19 included a couple of pointed queries aimed at specific candidates. Former Keewatinook MLA Judy Klassen, the Liberal candidate for Churchill-Keewatinook Aski, had an NDP supporter question her about whether she intended to live in the riding if she gets elected. Klassen, who comes from St. Theresa Point but whose husband is from Steinbach, said that would depend if he can find work in the riding but said it was definitely possible. “It looks like we are going to be able to move home for the first time in a long time,” she said. NDP candidate Niki Ashton, who has represented Churchill-Keewatinook Aski since 2015 and its predecessor, Churchill, for seven years before that, was asked by AMC Grand Chief Arlen Dumas why she didn’t support his plan, when he was Mathias Colomb Cree Nation chief, to buy the
Thompson Citizen photo by Ian Graham Churchill-Keewatinook Aski federal election candidates Judy Klassen (Liberal), Ralph McLean (Green), Niki Ashton (NDP) and Cyara Bird (Conservative) during a Sept. 19 I’m First Nation and I Vote town hall in Thompson organized by the Assembly of Manitoba Chiefs. Hudson Bay Railway and the Port of Churchill from OmniTrax and why she says she fought for Churchill when it took Justin Trudeau’s Liberal government putting more than $100 million into the deal that saw the Arctic Gateway Group take ownership of the assets. “Frankly, I’m shocked by your framing of what you raised here,” said Ashton, who said she was disappointed that anyone would question her commitment to Churchill. “I think you and I have very different recollections.” Conservative candidate Cyara Bird said, when all
four participating candidates were asked about how they would address the drug crisis and associated problems facing Thompson and other parts of Manitoba, that her home community of Little Black River First Nation has seen success with land-based sobriety camps. “I’m not ready to write these youth off as a lost cause,” she said. “A lot of this crime is happening because they’re bored. Our success rate has been amazing. We have had only two people relapse.” Green party candidate Ralph McLean, responding
to a question about how to stop companies with monopolies like the Northern store from selling food on First Nations at much higher prices than in cities, said he would support pushing Northern stories out of communities and replacing them with First Nation-owned supermarkets like Family Foods in Nelson House so money spent there stays in the community. “It’s just legalized theft at this point,” he said. Ashton said she supported changing the Nutrition North program so that it actually lowered food prices instead of enriching
the North West Company. “We are subsidizing a corporation that benefits greatly, as you pointed out by a monopoly,” she said. McLean also said he supported using drug-sniffing dogs at post offices to prevent drugs from getting into northern communities. “Most of the drugs now are coming in through the mail,” McLean said. Klassen said First Nations people haven’t been given chances at real careers and have had to make money in other ways. “All we have, a large portion of us, is the black market,” she said.
All four candidates said they supported First Nations having a say in and benefitting from natural resource development in their territories. “You deserve to have the right to do what you please with your resources,” said Bird. Klassen said in her closing statement that she is not in the race for herself. “A vote for me is not a vote for me. It’s a vote for you.” McLean said he was tired of the major parties neglecting Northern Manitoba. “You have been ignored for 30 years,” he said. “This is why I’m running.” Ashton said the NDP was committed to supporting the medical system and education and rejecting colonialism. “We believe that forging nation-to-nation relationships is fundamental.” Bird said that people are sick of being ignored and of reaching out to Ashton and not hearing anything back or not having their problems solved. “I am here to speak on behalf of you,” she said. “Advocacy doesn’t mean anything unless there is action behind it.”