‘There has to be accountability’: family sues after fire

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This article was published 09/01/2024 (608 days ago), so information in it may no longer be current.

The parents of two teens and a toddler killed in a northern Manitoba fire are suing the local First Nation, alleging it contributed to the death of their children by failing to provide adequate and safe housing.

Melodie and Patrick North filed the lawsuit Jan. 4 in the Court of King’s Bench, naming Cross Lake First Nation (also known as Pimicikamak Cree Nation) as the sole defendant.

“It’s not about retribution, it’s about accountability. It’s about making things better,” said Martin Pollock, the lawyer representing the North family.

“People deserve to know what happened, there has to be accountability and there has to be compensation that flows. These people have been tremendously damaged. This is not something that just gets swept away. There is trauma, tremendous trauma.”

The statement of claim stems from a fire that killed 17-year-old Kobie North and sisters Jade, 13, and Reed, 2.

According to the court documents, the children — along with their parents, another child and Kobie’s girlfriend — were asleep inside a single-room shelter provided to them by the Cross Lake band, when a fire broke out around 4:30 a.m. Feb. 12, 2022.

The building measured just 256 square feet and featured only one door, three small windows, no fire extinguishers and limited access to running water, the documents say.

It was intended to be used as a temporary isolation unit during the COVID-19 pandemic, but the North family had been forced to live there for more than a year — owing to a housing shortage on the First Nation, located more than 750 kilometres by road north of Winnipeg, the suit alleges.

Fire spread quickly throughout the building, blocking the only exit in a wall of flames and producing thick plumes of smoke that choked the family trapped inside, the lawsuit says.

Patrick North shattered one of the shelter’s windows in an effort to save his family. He helped his wife, the other child and Kobie’s girlfriend to escape, but was unable to retrieve the remaining three children before the room was overwhelmed by fire and smoke, according to the court documents.

Melodie North ran to a nearby home and called the First Nation’s fire department, but when firefighters arrived approximately 30 minutes later, they had no water or retardant equipment to suppress the blaze. As a result, “the COVID structure was destroyed by fire; Kobie, Jade and Reed, who were inside, were burned to their deaths,” the claim says.

News of the tragedy captured the attention of the public and Indigenous leadership, who called for additional housing and firefighting resources at PCN.

Then-premier Heather Stefanson flew to Cross Lake days later, offering condolences to the family and promising the provincial government would make good on a decades-old promise to address poverty in the community.

However, it is unclear what, if anything, has changed in the two years since.

Chief David Monias did not respond Monday to requests for comment on the lawsuit.

Manitoba Keewatinowi Okimakanak Inc., a political advocacy organization which represents the people living in the community, declined comment.

Pollock said his clients are determined to find out how and why they were left to reside inside a building that was not up to provincial fire code.

“They want to know exactly what happened here… I mean, you’re going to allow somebody to be put into a house that’s got one door? They are entitled to know what the thinking process is. What does the band do to protect the people for housing to make sure people don’t go up and die in a trap?” Pollock said.

“This is a tragic event, really, and the case says, if there was another escape route… people likely would be alive. That’s what the lawsuit is about.”

The lawsuit cites the Fatal Accidents Act, provincial legislation which allows plaintiffs to purse damages in cases “where the death of a person is caused by wrongful act, neglect or default.”

The claim includes a total of 21 allegations against Cross Lake First Nation. Further, the document charges Cross Lake failed to act with “diligence, prudence and reasonable care in response to notification of a fire on reserve.”

“They are responsible for the lives of people living in a house that they provide,” Pollock said. “The allegations are ones of outright negligence… How do you effect change in a community if a community is not going to bear responsibility?”

The Norths — Melodie, 38, and Patrick, 37 — are pursuing $330,000, plus additional damages to be determined at trial, on behalf of themselves and their family.

Cross Lake had not yet filed a statement of defence.

tyler.searle@freepress.mb.ca