PIKANGIKUM, Ont. — Ontario's Regional Chief Isadore Day says a fatal fire that claimed nine lives in a remote First Nations community is the result of third-world living conditions for Canada's aboriginal population.
Day says the community of Pikangikum has no firefighting services and 95 per cent of homes there don't have running water.
He says Pikangikum is not alone, citing a 2010 federal study that found people living on a First Nations reserve in Canada are 10 times more likely to die in a house fire than the rest of the population.
Day is calling for a coroner's inquest into the deadly fire.
The blaze erupted in a family home late Tuesday night, killing six adults and three children.
Community members say the victims represented three generations of a single family.
"Poverty and the state of our communities have been ignored and is literally a quiet crisis killing our people and it must end now," Day said in a statement.
Closer to the scene of the tragedy, community members tried to come to grips with what one member described as one of the worst events in its long, troubled history.
Kyle Peters said hundreds of mourners gathered near the charred remains of the home Wednesday night to hold a candle-light vigil for the victims.
A fundraising page established by a community member identified them as Gilbert and Annette Strang, their daughter Faith, Faith's husband Dietrich Peters, and the younger couple's three children — Ireland, 4, Aubree, 2, and baby Amber who was just eight months old, the page said. The Strang's son Gilbert and his wife Sylvia Peters also died in the blaze, it said.
Ontario Provincial Police, who are investigating the fire, have not released official identifications or confirmed the number of people killed in the fire.
Peters said Wednesday's vigil was a sad affair, with people lighting floating lanterns and stringing candles around the fire scene.
"A lot of sadness and tears and people trying to realize that it actually happened," Peters said of the mood at the vigil.
He said other members of the victims' families are due to arrive in Pikangikum later Thursday afternoon. Funeral and memorial arrangements likely won't be made until next week, he added.
A GoFundMe page has been established to raise money to cover funeral costs and provide support to surviving family members. The campaign had raised $2,120 of its $20,000 goal since being established Wednesday night.
