Mi'kmaw alert system expands to Lennox Island
CBC
Lennox Island First Nation now has a new tool to use in emergency situations.
Last week the community partnered with Jennifer Jesty, of the Union of Nova Scotia Mi'kmaq, to launch the alert system she created.
"It is usable right now, it is an opt-in system," Jesty said.
"If we needed to send out an alert right now we could send out an alert right now. It was really interesting to me and exciting that within the first hour of us sending out that social media advertisement … we had 35 people registered in an hour."
Everbridge, a company that works with organizations around the world on mass-notification systems, created the system.
The alert system works similarly to other alert systems by sending a notification to people's cell phones, but this system goes a step further by allowing chiefs to send out alerts directly to their communities, Jesty said.
"It will call the house phone, call or text the cell phone or email. When you register for the system you tell us how you want to receive that alert," she said.
There is also an option for chiefs to record their own voices in the Miꞌkmaw language.
"It's a significant benefit when you are talking about trying to communicate something so urgent and important to our elders," she said.
The system can be used to alert Mi'kmaw communities on everything from boil water advisories to missing people.
Kelly Sark is a member of Lennox Island First Nation. She volunteers with the local fire department and worked with the Aboriginal Women's Association of P.E.I. focusing on missing Indigenous men.
She said she is happy to hear the alert system is in place.
"It's very good to have this type of alert in our community because it gives us more of a faster response time when it comes to missing people or boil orders or severe weather warnings. I think we should have had this a long time ago," she said.
Sark's brother, 28-year-old Jamie Sark, went missing in late August. His body was found Nov. 12 in a heavily wooded area on Lennox Island First Nation.
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