ʔaq̓am warns there are no GoFundMe campaigns connected to community following St Mary River wildfire

Staff with the ʔaq̓am community warn that there are no active fundraising campaigns in place as the response to the St Mary River wildfire continues.

Band staff say no approved Go-Fund-Me page has been established by the ?aqam community and any GoFundMe campaigns currently out there are not connected to the community.

If you want to make a monetary donation to support the community, you can contact ?aqam’s Director of Finance Ivan Winter by emailing iwinter@aqam.net.

ʔaq̓am Nasuʔkin Chief Joe Pierre says the community is overwhelmed by the amount of donations they have received so far, he’s asking that you don’t send any material donations.

“If [you] want to help in any kind of monetary way, we’re asking that you contact our administration directly,” says Pierre.

He is also denouncing those who are fraudulently launching Go-Fund-Me campaigns linked to the local fire.

“There are folks out there who are trying to take advantage of this situation,” Pierre says. “We’ve been made aware of some bogus Go-Fund-Me pages that are using our community name. Our community is not using Go-Fund-Me in any way.”

You can find out more about ʔaq̓am’s concerns here.

The situation around the wildfires near the ʔaq̓am community is constantly evolving. You can find more details from our ongoing coverage here.