Poor housing, lack of smoke detectors contribute to higher fire deaths of Indigenous people: Statistics Canada

‘Fire-related injuries resulting in hospitalization are also disproportionate to Indigenous peoples’ says report.

The fire in Tataskweyak Cree Nation left two people in hospital. Photo: submitted

APTN News: According to a new report, inadequate housing, lack of smoke detectors, underfunding of fire services and a lack of legislation “mandating adherence to building and fire codes” are contributing to a higher death rate in residential fires among Indigenous peoples.

The report published by Statistics Canada but written by the National Indigenous Fire Safety Council, or NIFSC, said there is a human cost to these issues.

For instance, Inuit are 17 times more likely to die in a fire compared to the Canadian population while the report said First Nations people living on reserve are 10 times more likely to die in a fire compared to the rest of the population. Métis rates were not “significantly different.”

“In addition, multiple factors, such as lower socioeconomic status (e.g., low income), overcrowded living conditions and limited access to healthcare services in rural locations, place Indigenous people at an elevated risk of various types of unintentional injuries, including fire-related morbidity and mortality,” according to the report released Thursday.

On average, 220 people died in a fire in Canada between 2011 and 2020 – the years covered in the report.

The data, according to Statistics Canada, also show that fire deaths were more prevalent for Indigenous males. Indigenous people who died were younger compared with non-Indigenous people and one in eight “residential fire related deaths” occurred in a residence without a working smoke alarm.

“About 56% of Indigenous people who died in a residential fire lived in a house that needed major repairs compared with 13% of non-Indigenous people,” the report said. “Indigenous people (20%) who died in a fire were more often involved in residential fires causing two or more deaths than non-Indigenous people (7%).”

The NIFSC said in the report that “the jurisdiction of fire protection is an issue for Indigenous peoples. There is no national fire protection code that mandates fire safety standards or enforcement on reserves.

“All other jurisdictions in Canada including provinces, territories, and other federal jurisdictions (such as military bases, airports, and seaports) have established building and fire codes.

“The Aboriginal Firefighters Association of Canada (AFAC), NIFSC’s parent organization, supports the development of a national First Nations Fire Protection Act and is willing to work with First Nations leadership as a technical resource.”

According to the NIFSC, “Fire-related injuries resulting in hospitalization are also disproportionate to Indigenous peoples. First Nations people are over 4 times more likely, Métis are over 1.5 times more likely, and Inuit are over 5 times more likely than non-Indigenous people to be hospitalized due to fire-related injuries.”

Ontario, Alberta and Saskatchewan had the highest death rates in Canada.

Len Garis, a researcher with the NIFSC, said there are changes jurisdictions can make to ensure people’s safety.

“In British Columbia, it’s the opposite of all the other provinces in terms of the ratio of fire deaths associated to the population,” he told APTN News. “What happened in British Columbia in 2012 they started an aggressive smoke alarm campaign between 2012 and today. They installed nearly 20,000 smoke alarm stations and there we’re seeing the death rates are phenomenally lower.”