Landscape near Weyakwin following 2015 wildfires. Photo by Liam Richards.
The forest fires in northern Saskatchewan are long out, but the SGEU is still putting heat on the government about how the crisis was handled.
The union has sent mail-outs to northern residents calling for an independent inquiry.
The mail-out blasts the government for everything from cutting the forest fire budget to using cameras instead of forest fire observers in the observation towers.
The union says the result was chaos, confusion, and bad choices. It is calling for an independent public review.
SGEU president Bob Bymoen says the initiative for the mail-out came from front line workers who feel their voices have not been heard.
“You know, they felt that there were a lot of people that were in peril,” he says. “They were lucky to have as safe a season as they did in some ways.”
Environment Minister Herb Cox says a review is currently being done with stakeholders across the north and beyond. Cox says the government could not have foreseen or planned for what was the worst year for forest fires in recent memory. He says there were some problems, but all in all, the government has received positive feedback on how the situation was handled.
“We got quite a bit of feedback in this office, actually none of it was negative,” he says. “We had some people from that area who contacted us both by phone and e-mail who were concerned that maybe some of the things portrayed in that flyer were not actually the way they were.”
The fires forced more than 13,000 people from their homes in northern Saskatchewan. It was the largest evacuation in the province’s history. The deadline for submissions to the provincial government’s wildfire review is December 15.