Preparedness Week has officially wrapped up in Grand Forks. The Boundary Flood Recovery Team hosted activities throughout last week, from sandbagging demonstrations to financial presentations, educating the community on emergency preparedness. The event was sponsored by the Canadian Red Cross. Saturday was the main event on Market Avenue, where Parliamentary Secretary Jennifer Rice was present.
She says lessons from Grand Forks were learned provincially:
“There’s a legacy with Grand Forks, because we’re designing right now and developing a disaster recovery framework for the entire province for all types of emergencies, and that is based on experiences that we faced here in Grand Forks, and how we are helping Grand Forks together and working together with local government, and that legacy will help improve the situation for the rest of British Columbia.”
Rice says so far the Province has dedicated over $28,000,000 to Grand Forks and the surrounding area, partly through the initial Household Emergency Assistance Program:
“In the immediate aftermath of the floods shelter was this communities most pressing need. So many people were forced from their homes, emergency support service teams and volunteers stepped up to find a short term solution, however it quickly became clear that this was a long-term challenge that needed a long-term solution.”
She adds it’s good to be back in Grand Forks under less dire circumstances:
“I stayed for a few days and people eventually started trickling back into the downtown core, but it was actually really amazing how people supported each other and lifted each other up.”
Grand Forks Mayor Brian Taylor and Chair of the Regional District of Kootenay Boundary Roly Russell shared some words as well. There was also a free Elk’s pancake breakfast earlier that morning with city councillors serving.
RDKB Chair Roly Russell commends the relationship that’s been built with the Province:
“The relationship between us and the province needs to be not a parent and child relationship it needs to be an actual partnership, and I think that is understood and appreciated, and I think we’ve made a lot of headway in that….”
Also Saturday there were booths, presentations, activities, giveaways, and live music.