It has been more than a week since fires devastated the town of Slave Lake.
For over a week, evacuees have been forced out of their homes, their jobs and their lives. They have taken refuge in evacuation centres in Edmonton, Westlock and here in Athabasca.
They say time heals all wounds, but it also throws into sharper relief all that which has been lost, and the work that must be done to reclaim it.
With a week now separating the community from its cataclysm, the focus has begun to shift from response to recovery. Updates from Slave Lake itself remain sparse, but what is known for certain is that the worst has passed. Everyone was evacuated in time, and the community and its members can now focus on the next step.
But what will that step be? Odds are it will look quite different for each Slave Lake resident.
It seems unlikely that every person who called Slave Lake home before the fire will return to the community once it begins the process of rebuilding. Some will perhaps find it too painful to return to little more than ash and smoking embers. Others might simply seize upon the opportunity to make a profound change in their lives and careers.
Those who do return to Slave Lake, meanwhile, will need the support of the larger Alberta community as they begin the long process of reclaiming and rebuilding.
In that they can be safely optimistic. There has been no shortage of support for the evacuees from all corners of Alberta, from government, businesses and citizens alike.
It would be hard to ignore the plight of our Slave Lake friends here in Athabasca, given our position as a temporary refuge. But what about after they have returned home, and we can’t spot them on the streets or at the multiplex anymore? They will still need and deserve our support then, as well.
If any positive can be found in such a horrible situation, it’s that communities in Northern Alberta have united and rallied around Slave Lake in a way that few could have predicted.
As response becomes recovery, that support will still be needed.
