The new $3.6-million fire hall on Mosquito Grizzly Bear’s Head Lean Man First Nation (MGBHLM) is pictured on Monday, Nov. 3, 2025, following its official opening. The two-bay facility was designed by Associated Engineering and fully funded by Indigenous Services Canada (ISC). (Kenneth Cheung/battlefordsNOW Staff)

By Kenneth Cheung

INFRASTRUCTURE

MGBHLM First Nation opens $3.6M fire hall fully funded by Indigenous Service Canada

Nov 3, 2025 | 4:48 PM

Three years ago, a fire tore through an eight-unit housing complex on Mosquito Grizzly Bear’s Head Lean Man First Nation (MGBHLM), leaving families scrambling for shelter and the community shaken.

The blaze underscored what leaders had long recognized — the nation needed a fire hall of its own.

“It devastated probably about eight families and then more fairly large families had been devastated,” said housing manager and volunteer firefighter Milton Oxebin.

“Insurance wasn’t going to cover it all and with the fire department here now we can possibly save more homes that catch on fire.”

Until now, volunteers had fought grass and house fires with whatever tools they could find, rushing out without a base to call their own.

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That changed Monday with the opening of a $3.6-million fire hall, designed by Associated Engineering and fully funded by Indigenous Services Canada (ISC). The two-bay facility includes a drive-through for larger trucks, a smaller secondary bay, a decontamination area, hose-drying racks, open lockers and a second-floor space for training and administration. The department now has two fire trucks ready to serve.

Project manager Marvin Loewen said the design focused on safety and practicality.

“They requested a drive-through bay so that they didn’t always have to back the truck in,” he said.

“We certainly meet the National Building Code, and then we also have a lot of the fire-specific requirements that we’ve looked at and met with this building.”

(Kenneth Cheung/battlefordsNOW)

Volunteer firefighter and housing manager Milton Oxebin stands in front of a new fire truck on Mosquito Grizzly Bear’s Head Lean Man First Nation during the fire hall opening Monday, Nov. 3, 2025. The community’s volunteer department now has two trucks and its own base of operations. (Kenneth Cheung/battlefordsNOW Staff)

Construction took about a year after nearly 12 months of design and tendering, he added.

For Chief Tanya Aguilar-Antiman, also known as Tanya Stone, the opening marks the culmination of years of planning and persistence.

“The fire hall was always on the radar,” she said. “But with a significant amount of fires that had happened, we really then took a lead on advocating for the importance of a fire hall.”

She said the new hall gives the First Nation greater control over emergency response. In the past, neighbouring municipalities couldn’t always provide assistance because there was no formal fire-service agreement in place.

“We have lost lives because of the lack of agreement,” she said.

That challenge made it even more important to secure long-term federal support. Earlier proposals required the nation to pay up to 40 per cent of the cost, but after the eight-plex fire and renewed talks with officials, ISC agreed to fund the project in full.

“So as we move forward, it’s not only our Nation, but our neighbouring Nations and the municipalities … ‘How do we work with them now that we have our fire hall?’”

In the past seven years, the community has recorded 11 house fires, driving up insurance rates and underscoring the need for faster response times. The volunteer crew — about six or seven members — plans to expand its skills through live-fire training in condemned homes on the reserve.

“That training there would be beneficial to us,” Oxebin said. “Maybe we can save people if they’re in the house and make sure everybody’s safe.”

(Kenneth Cheung/ battlefordsNOW)

Aguilar-Antiman said the hall will also help build a foundation for growth.

“When it comes to insurance purposes, you have to have a fire hall to be part of that,” she said. “It’s an opportunity to create awareness and educate … We have the opportunity to create training and employment for our membership.”

At Monday’s grand opening, Grade 2 students who helped with last year’s sod-turning returned to cut the ribbon — a small but symbolic gesture, Oxebin said, of the future they’re helping protect.

“When they grow older, maybe they’ll be our future firefighters — could never tell,” he said.

Among them was seven-year-old Elijah Trottier, who called the new hall “great.” When asked if he wanted to be a firefighter one day, he grinned.

“Yes,” he said, “so I can have fun and look at fire.”

Seven-year-old Elijah Trottier, who took part in the ribbon cutting, poses in front of the new fire hall on Mosquito Grizzly Bear’s Head Lean Man First Nation on Monday, Nov. 3, 2025. (Kenneth Cheung/battlefordsNOW Staff)

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Kenneth.Cheung@pattisonmedia.com