By Alessia Passafiume After three house fires ripped through a First Nation in northern Ontario in less than a week, killing a small child, a retired fire chief said First Nations’ firefighting operations in the region are being set up to fail by a lack of federal funding for equipment and training. Monique Belair worked for 39 years for Kingston Fire and Rescue and now works with a group of five northern Ontario First Nations, the Independent First Nations Alliance, to help with fire services and emergency preparedness. She told The Canadian Press the severe lack of funding and proper equipment in the region is making attending fire calls unreasonably dangerous. She said her old colleagues in Kingston never had to cope with the conditions that face First Nations firefighters… <\/p>\n
By Alessia Passafiume After three house fires ripped through a First Nation in northern Ontario in less than a week, killing a small child, a retired fire chief said First Nations’ firefighting operations in the region are being set up to fail by a lack of federal funding for equipment and training. Monique Belair worked for 39 years for Kingston Fire and Rescue and now works with a group of five northern Ontario First Nations, the Independent First Nations Alliance, to help with fire services and emergency preparedness. She told The Canadian Press the severe lack of funding and proper equipment in the region is making attending fire calls unreasonably dangerous. She said her old colleagues in Kingston never had to cope with the conditions that face First Nations firefighters... <\/p>\n