On January 8th Chief and Council for the Bigstone Cree Nation announced a State of Local Emergency.
Chief Andy Alook spoke with media at the River Cree Casino highlighting lack of funding, addiction and a rise of mental health cases within their nations as the reason for the Local Emergency.
Chief and Council are calling on all levels of government to address the shortfalls of capacity, colonial policies and an overall lack of response to their initial State of Local Emergency.
Windspeaker Media spoke with Chief Andy Alook and discussed some of the short terms goals him and his council would like to see happen, including more meetings with all levels of government.
Chief Alook believes a major step forward on a solution would be the increased efforts of reconciliation between nations and government, including the teachings of cultural healing.
The statement from the nation also referenced a severe lack of RCMP presence within rural communities, noting some emergency calls would take 2-4 hours to respond.