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Attawapiskat Indigenous Donate Money for Canada Fire Victims

  • Attawapiskat Chief presents a US$5,000 donation to support Alberta fire relief.

    Attawapiskat Chief presents a US$5,000 donation to support Alberta fire relief. | Photo: Twitter / @redcrosscanada

Published 18 May 2016
Opinion

A community in crisis, the Attawapiskat First Nations, have donated to another community in crisis: the residents of the Fort McMurray fire.

Attawapiskat First Nations, a community dealing with a suicide epidemic among its youth, have donated to Fort McMurray fire victims just a few provinces over, where blazes have been fiercely reducing forests, homes and threatening the nearby oil sands, in what has become the worst environmental disaster in Canada's history, according to local officials.

RELATED: 
Wildfire in Fort McMurray, Canada, Shows Indigenous Resilience

The Canadian Red Cross tweeted that Attawapiskat Chief Bruce Shisheesh presented about US$5,000 donation to go toward fire relief efforts in Alberta. 

Charlie Angus, the New Democrat Member of Parliament, who serves the region that encompasses Attawapiskat First Nation, remarked that he had heard the community was fundraising to help those affected by the fire that has forced close to 90,000 people from their homes.

Last month, Attawapiskat declared a state of emergency following a number of suicide attempts among its young people. Across the country, residents of Fort McMurray enter their third week of being displaced from the wildfires that have ravaged their community.

WATCH: Wildfires Force Canadian City Evacuation

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