85% of all homes, numbering in the hundreds were damaged when floods tore through Hope Creek Village in early June. Since then, there’s been no housing relief for those communities but they got a glimmer of some meaningful hope today. Area Representative Melvin Hulse teamed with the Canadian Government and military to start work on a project that should build 50 homes in the Melinda Forest stations area. Hulse explained.
Hon. Melvin Hulse, Minister of NEMO
“This project is especially extremely pleasing to me for two major reasons. One, it is in my backyard and two for the first time in history of this country and disaster we are not building temporary things for people. We are building them permanent secure structures to live in and henceforth any that disaster comes along, if it takes a little while to do the right thing, we will take that little while to the right thing. No more plywood or no more of these temporary things that do not alleviate the security of people.
So here we have the Canadian Army helping us to help construct them. We have the BDF component that is helping to construct them. We have members of my organization and members of the public so this is a people event being achieved by people for the benefit of grassroots people.”
A few notes. The Canadian military team that is assisting is doing the work in preparation for reconstruction projects in Afghanistan. The plan is that the Old Forest Station area will also be turned into a herbarium. Mark Ritchie will also get a house. He is the father who lost his wife and two children in the floods.
