Peggy Revell
It was a warm reception last week as emergency relief supplies arrived in Pikangikum First Nation and were distributed.
“It went really well,” said Fort Frances OPP Cst. Anne McCoy, who made the trip to Pikangikum along with fellow OPP officers, helping to transport the estimated four-five tonnes of emergency supplies to the remote community 100 km northwest of Red Lake.
Leaving early last Wednesday morning, the convoy made its way to the community which only can be accessed by plane or via an ice road in winter months, arriving around 3:30 p.m.
“[We] were met by some local residents and counsellors, and within probably 20 minutes, we had probably 100 people meeting, flocking down to the recreation centre to see what was going on,” recalled Cst. McCoy.
“So the word travelled fast.”
“From our perspective everything went great,” said Vik Nowak, executive director of the local Family & Children’s Services office, which set out in November to gather emergency relief supplies—such as infant formula, diapers, winter clothing, and infant clothing—for the children of Pikangikum.
“There were a number of people there from the community to receive us, to help us unload the trucks,” noted Nowak, explaining all of the supplies—which had been packed into two 24-foot long trailers—filled up the community’s rec centre.
They spent the rest of the day organizing the donations.
“Then the next morning at around 10 o’clock, we opened the door and we were swamped with people,” Nowak recalled. “10 o’clock, you’d swear this is ‘Black Friday’ in Minneapolis in a Wal-Mart store because it was just shoulder-to-shoulder people.
“And it stayed like that for probably about three hours or so and then slowly the numbers started to dwindle,” he added.
By mid-afternoon, Nowak estimated about 65 percent of the items had been distributed, with local agencies keeping leftover donations to distribute on an as-needed basis.
“All I can say at this point is to thank the public profusely for the donations,” he stressed. “I mean, this started out as a small little project that grew to gigantic proportions, but it was largely because of the response of the public in the Rainy River District.
“That’s from Atikokan to Rainy River.”
The district’s generosity has garnered national attention, Nowak noted, pointing to attention from CBC and e-mails he’s received from his counterparts in other agencies “amazed at what we were able to do in this community.”
“And it’s not [FACS], it’s everybody who lives here who made this thing happen,” he reiterated.
The call for assistance for Pikangikum’s children came after Tikanagan Child and Family Services of Sioux Lookout sent out an urgent request for assistance through the North South Partnership for Children.
With a population of around 2,400, the average age in Pikangikum is 21 and roughly 41 percent of the population is under the age of 15.
Many of the children are in Tikanagan’s care, and the community is coping with overcrowded and inadequate housing and infrastructure, high unemployment rates, as well as high rates of substance abuse and suicide rates.
“I want people in the Rainy River District to know just the difference that they made by making the donations,” said Cst. McCoy.
“The people in the community were very appreciative,” she added. “You don’t get a thank you or a handshake per say, but you get a subtle smile and a head nod and an acknowledgement, which is just as great.
“I think that it was a special thing to be a part of because there’s not a lot of positives in terms of police work all the time,” McCoy conceded, referring to the role the OPP played, with the Emergency Response Team coming together from across the Northwest region to set up the logistics for transporting all of the donated items.
“It was very nice to see all the smiling faces on all the kids and the families, and it was clearly appreciated what we had done,” echoed Nowak.
“It’s one thing for people to donate, but to be there when the people who are the victims in this tragedy were there to receive it, just made this whole thing an incredible experience,” he remarked.
