MPP sees ‘devastated’ landscape on visit to Sandy Lake

By Mike Stimpson, Local Journalism Initiative Reporter, Thunder Bay Source SANDY LAKE – Much land was “devastated” by the forest fire that forced an evacuation of the Sandy Lake First Nation reserve, but luckily no lives were lost and the community’s leadership has pulled through. That, in a nutshell, was Kiiwetinoong MPP Sol Mamakwa’s assessment after a recent visit to the reserve some 230 kilometres northeast of Red Lake. “There’s a lot of land that’s devastated” in the area, Mamakwa told Newswatch in an interview Monday. “It was very emotional for some of the leadership to see some of their camps (and) cabins burnt down … (because) being on the land is a way of life,” he said. Mamakwa said as he was leaving the fly-in community he could see…

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