Of those Nlaka’pamux people who lost their homes, some say while Lytton was decimated by the fire, Kumsheen was not. “And in 15 minutes, my house was on fire.”It’s difficult to quantify exactly how much was lost by First Nations people living on one of the 56 reserves around the Lytton area. Some of the 250 people living in the village of Lytton itself were members of the Lytton First Nation, whose reserve lands include slices of the village. It was a moment of clarity for him, a reminder of what it meant to lead by example as in a Nlaka’pamux community. “I don’t really want to go there because it reminds me of residential (school),” Spinks, who is 64 and a residential school survivor, said.

Source: thestar July 17, 2021 13:52 UTC