Minister of Forests, Ravi Parmar headed up Highway 5 on Friday, March 21 into the North Thompson.
He visited with Clearwater’s mayor and council, followed by a meeting hosted by Simpcw First Nation’s Kukpi7 George Lampreau and band council in the Village of Chu Chua near Barriere.
The North Thompson Valley is predicted to be facing another critical wildfire season and according to an AI-driven data analytics company, AISIX Solutions Inc. Clearwater has been identified as one of the top ten Canadian “most at risk of wildfires given historical conditions”.
According to the company website the analysis identifies the concentration of population centres with high burn probabilities given historical conditions in western Canada, with hotspots in southeastern British Columbia that target Clearwater, Sicamous, Sorrento, Chase, Nakusp, Grindrod, Castlegar, western and central Alberta (Swan Hills) and the Northwest Territories (Hay River, Fort Smith).
Minister Parmar had a number of stops scheduled in the Kamloops-North Thompson riding held by newly elected MLA Ward Stamer who is also the Opposition Forestry Critic in B.C. The ‘get stuff done tour’ also stopped in the Okanagan, Kamloops and Merritt on what is being labelled a ‘listen and learn tour’.
Topics discussed during the District of Clearwater mayor and council meeting on Friday were wildfire mitigation strategies and more,
“Most of the meeting was in relation to the recently announced expansion of our FireSmart Program, and the new Fire Department Initial Attack crew,” said mayor Merlin Blackwell. “There was also discussion surrounding the state of the local forest industry. Council and I had reached out to a number of local forestry stakeholders prior to the meeting for input and we were able to relay some of their concerns and focal points to the minister during our brief meeting with him.”
Blackwell told Blackpress the group “spoke of the importance of Wells Gray Community Forest” and the significant financial contributions they’ve made in the area as well as “the critical role they play in wildfire risk mitigation for the town.”
The mayor alluded to some parts of the meeting being confidential as of now. “I can’t speak to those topics yet, however everything in relation to the BC Wildfire Service and more will be part of the Thompson Nicola Regional District Committee of the Whole meeting on Friday March 28, which the public can watch live online.”
Blackwell emphasized the meeting with the forests minister was initiated by Parmar and he was made aware of it a week prior during the Value Added Coalition meeting in Clearwater with an invitation from the Assistant Deputy Minister, Jamie Jeffreys.
“I am determined as always to advocate for our town’s safety. We voiced our concerns about how we partner with B.C. Wildfire Service and how we move forward. We also touched on multiple topics and spoke about our working partnerships in the valley with Simpcw and the other communities that are signing MOUs with them to work collaboratively,” said Blackwell.
Black Press met with Parmar in Clearwater following the private meeting with DOC mayor and council.
"We spoke about the work that we need to do together to be better prepared for wildfires," Parmar said. "There is some really good work that Clearwater is leading in terms of setting up an Initial Attack (IA) team and it’s a great opportunity for us to be able to connect and ensure that BC Wildfire Service (BCWS) is there to support them in that regard.”
Parmar said he is supportive of the innovative mitigation strategies along with the valley-wide partnership with Simpcw First Nation in each community from McLure to Blue River.
Speaking about these valley partnerships with Simpcw First Nation initiated by Kukpi7 George Lampreau, Parmar told Black Press, “Simpcw is leading the way. When I first met Chief Lampreau just a couple of months ago at the Natural Resources Forum in Prince George he made it known and very clear to me that he was moving forward, and the province needed to catch up. That put a bit of a fire in my belly to make sure that we are catching up. I’ve got a lot of time for the chief, he’s leading in many ways, and I think there’s an opportunity for us to be true and meaningful partners while creating good paying jobs for people in this community and across the region.”
On Sunday, March 23, in a follow-up interview Kukpi7 Lampreau told Black Press about Simpcw’s meeting with Parmar on Friday.
“We had an agenda prepared and talked about our valley partnerships with Barriere, Clearwater, Valemount and McBride and the MOUs with each of those communities," he said. "We also spoke with the minister about the potential to start a community forest in the Robson Valley. We talked about the future of permitting and how we are going to be involved in that with the province within our territory and work together on that. We touched on value added and discussed our partnerships with everyone and what we feel is working well. Our partnership with the mayors sends a message that anything is possible, and this is the way it should be working together.”
