Yvan Lebel is a major part of the communications team for the Northwest Communities Incident Command Centre. The group led the pandemic response in Northern Saskatchewan that faced many challenges. He talks about his personal experience being part of the team and the importance of maintaining such a leadership group in the future. Yvan created and maintained the website the155.ca, which was an integral part of the emergency response. 

"The ICC is the Northwest’s Incident Command Centre (ICC). 

The ICC is coordinating the Northwest region’s response to the COVID-19 pandemic.

This regional initiative was created the pandemic, to help all the communities in the Northwest.  Located in Beauval, the ICC is staffed by local people.  It is headed by Rick Laliberte.

It was created by a Joint Leadership Group made up of the First Nations, Métis and municipal government in the region. Together, the Joint Leadership Group collaborated to maximize our local and regional resources, capacities, and information.

The ICC acts a regional hub to coordinate and support all the region’s emergency teams. The ICC hosts daily conference call briefings for community leaders across the North West. These calls enable communities to explain their issues, share information about needed capacity, and discuss possible solutions from across the region and beyond. These daily briefings include provincial and federal  specialists, health authority representatives, agency supports, and elected leaders. 

The ICC are also responsible for four regional check points in and out of the region.  These check points will encourage only essential travel in the region, and educate motorists about ways to keep themselves and their communities healthy and safe. 

The spokespeople for the ICC are Meadow Lake Tribal Council Chief Richard Ben, Métis Nation – Saskatchewan President Glen McCallum, and Northwest Municipalities Representative Mayor Duane Favel of Ile a la Crosse."

Source: the155.ca