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Hope burns bright after wildfire
Jay and Shauna Canadien recall aftermath of fire, how community united to rebuild

April Hudson
Northern News Services
Saturday, May 6, 2017

FORT MCMURRAY, ALTA.
A year after their harrowing escape from a burning Fort McMurray, Jay and Shauna Canadien don't spend much time thinking about the wildfire that burned their home to ashes.

NNSL photograph

Jay, left, holding Gabriella, and Shauna with Alessandra, a few months after they lost their home in Fort McMurray to a wildfire. - photos courtesy of Shauna Canadien

Speaking to News/North one year to the day after they evacuated, the Canadien family said they and their two young daughters, Gabriella and Alessandra, have moved on.

"It doesn't really faze us any more. Today is the anniversary, but we just treated it like a regular day," said Jay.

What looms in their minds isn't the inferno that caused a city-wide evacuation in May 2016 and roared through the Beacon Hill neighbourhood where they lived, but rather the outpouring of support they and other residents received after the fire swept through.

"We're still just extremely grateful for the help and support we had from everybody," Shauna said.

The couple moved to Fort McMurray from Fort Providence five years ago. A fundraiser held by friends and family in Fort Providence raised more than $2,000 for them at the time of the fire.

Shauna said the support the family received on the ground in Fort McMurray, especially from a group of volunteer military veterans and first responders from Team Rubicon who helped them search through the ashes of their home, was a major help at the time as well.

"It was so cool to see how people from everywhere were coming to help Fort McMurray," she said.

NNSL photograph

Jay and Shauna stand on the front step of their home in this photo, which was taken from their back yard. The family returned to sift through the ashes with the help of Team Rubicon.

"It'll take a long time for Fort McMurray to come back to where it was, but everyone's still here rebuilding and supporting each other."

Positive messages from volunteers and people providing relief also touched her.

"My first time back (to the city), it was just me and the girls because Jay was at work. The closer you got to Fort McMurray, the more signs of support were along the highway," Shauna recalled.

One truck, pulled over by the side of the road, had "Alberta Strong" written on the back of its trailer. When the family checked in with Red Cross at one of the city's high schools, there were people giving out bags of groceries and people whose sole purpose was to give out hugs.

"It was pretty cool," Shauna said. "They thought of everything."

Jay and Shauna count themselves lucky in some respects. Their home was a rental, which meant they didn't have to rebuild from scratch, and they were able to retrieve a few belongings from the ashes upon their return.

Additionally, they were able to both return to their jobs once the city re-opened.

Even their children, who were 7 and 8 at the time of the wildfire, have been keeping strong as the community gets used to "a new normal," Shauna said.

"We're fortunate," she said.

"The girls are doing really, really well - you couldn't tell that they drove through an inferno a year ago."

Now, the family is living in an apartment on the north side of town. Their plans haven't changed since the fire first tore through the city.

"We built our family around here, with Beacon Hill, and all the parents and students are so comfortable around each other. We have really close friendships," Jay said.

"We plan on being here a while yet."

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