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Justice Minister visits Fort McMurray to review aftermath of wildfire with RCMP, courthouse

Kathleen Ganley, Alberta Justice Minister and Solicitor General, speaking to media outside the courthouse in Fort McMurray on Tuesday, July 26, 2016.

Justice Minister Kathleen Ganley spent the day Tuesday in Fort McMurray visiting REOC, the fire hall, the courthouse, both the north and south RCMP detachments and the communities of Abasand and Waterways.

Part of the reason for the trip was to thank RCMP officers and staff for their response to the wildfire.

“I got a chance to talk to people in both (RCMP) detachments today and just to say ‘thanks,'” she said. “I know a lot of people did a lot of very difficult work while they were in both professionally and personally challenging circumstances so I think that’s something, and we managed to get everybody out so they were successful so I think that’s fantastic.”

This is not Ganley’s first trip to Fort McMurray as Justice Minister but she said it was important she come here in person now to meet the people working for her who responded to the fire and to get a sense of the realities on the ground in the recovery period.

“Any time that you’re governing a province I think it’s important to be able to get out of the capital and see people and talk to people because that, just sort of the nuance of everyday life, what are people experiencing, I think that’s always important,” she said, “particularly in a time of crisis like this.”

She said she understands now is more a time of recovery than of crisis but it’s still important to understand what is going on and to really understand what the lived experience is of the person on the ground is really critical.

Ganley said there are many challenges ahead. The department will be working to ensure people’s mental health continues to be looked after.

“I think that everyone has proved to be extremely resilient, they did some very hard work but I think everybody sort of pulled together,” she said. “Of course, we always encourage anyone, whether they be first responders or members of the public to seek any treatment they need if they’re suffering from PTSD because I know that a lot of people will have seen some very troubling things.”

Ganley said there were initially trauma councillors brought in and now there are ongoing resources available to RCMP staff.

The department will also help with dealing with challenges in scheduling, especially as people take their holidays and time owed for the work they did.

She said there are also going to be difficulties ahead with managing open cases before the courts.

“They would have been closed for quite a while and that creates a lot of administrative challenges, right, because matters will have been bumped in various ways and so the court system, which is already under significant strain, will be under increased strain here and I know our staff is doing a fantastic job of getting that on track,” she said. “But at the same time many of them have, themselves, lost their homes.”

Some cases were heard by CCTV during the evacuation and the weeks since return and others are still being dealt with.

Ganley said in scheduling hearings staff have to do a sort of triage and work to prioritize cases where families are in crisis and where people’s liberty is at stake.

As well, in the Court of Queen’s Bench, the scheduler at the courthouse told MyMcMurray priority is being given to special cases from May and June that were postponed, including the case of Councillor Colleen Tatum’s eligibility to remain in elected office.

Those cases can be heard with as little as two days’ notice and do not have to go through the normal scheduling process that requires a hearing before a justice.

The scheduler said there is currently no timeline for when Tatum’s case will be heard. It was originally scheduled for June 22.