Reserve’s fatal fire stirs Tory concern

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This article was published 08/05/2009 (6122 days ago), so information in it may no longer be current.

OTTAWA — Federal Indian Affairs Minister Chuck Strahl says the death of a five-year-old boy in a house fire on the Sandy Bay First Nation has strengthened his resolve to improve housing conditions on Canadian First Nations communities.

Tristan Taylor-Mousseau died Thursday when flames engulfed the bungalow he was living in about 165 kilometres northwest of Winnipeg.

A government spokesman said the fire commissioner’s office does not expect to release the cause of the fire until next week.

He said the home was equipped with a smoke alarm, and investigators are looking into whether it was functioning at the time of the fire.

Tristan is the second child to die in a fire on the reserve this year. On Feb. 3, nine-year-old Hope Richard perished after a blaze levelled the home she shared with 13 other family members.

Strahl said his government agrees “conditions must improve.”

“This is a very sad story and our sympathies go out to the young child’s family, friends and community,” Strahl said.

The federal government recently announced a $75-million investment in reserve housing in Manitoba, the largest share for any province out of $400 million allocated for reserve housing in the federal budget.

Strahl’s government is also intent on having more individual band members own their homes. Currently, most housing on reserves is owned by the band itself.

Sandy Bay Chief Russell Beaulieu could not be reached Friday. In February, after Hope’s death, he said the money Ottawa has allocated is not enough.

Tristan’s family had moved into the bungalow after their old home became uninhabitable. At the time of the fire, Tristan was one of eight children and four adults living in the three-bedroom, 1,000-square-foot house.

Darcy Wood, senior policy analyst for housing and infrastructure with the Assembly of Manitoba Chiefs, said many people living in a house that size is likely contrary to fire codes, but he said there is no choice.

“Codes go out the window when you have housing shortages,” Wood said.

Sandy Bay has a waiting list of 200 families who need new homes. Statistics Canada reports 66 per cent of the 510 homes on the reserve need major repairs, and more than 35 per cent have more than one person per room, compared to 1.8 per cent for all Manitoba.

mia.rabson@freepress.mb.ca