HIGH RIVER — Residents of one flood-devastated neighbourhood in High River, are renewing their calls for compensation after a video has surfaced of a recent town meeting.
In the video, Darwin Durnie of the town’s emergency operations centre is seen answering questions about a berm that was built next to Hampton Hills.
At one point, Durnie tells those in attendance the subdivision was “sacrificed” to save other neighbourhoods.
Deborah Huisman says Durnie’s admission makes the government responsible to the residents for the damage that was done.
She says the province should “fess up, to come clean and put offers on the table” for residents of Hampton Hills.
About 50 residents staged a protest outside Premier Alison Redford’s Calgary office on Monday night.
“We just want closure, we just want something done,” said Jerry Huisman.
Municipal Affairs Minister Doug Griffiths says he sympathizes with flood victims, but adds that walking away from the homes is just not realistic.
“Frankly, lots of the homes can be remediated or repaired,” he says. “Those that can’t can be rebuilt. And if we go through the process of cleaning up the homes and finding out they can be repaired or rebuilding, then it will be their option on whether or not they want to sell that property and move out.”
Wildrose Leader Danielle Smith says there should be a public inquiry into how the flooding in High River was handled.
“To have been told essentially they were sacrificed to be able to save other homes in the rest of town just adds insult to injury,” says Smith.
“I think the government would be well advised to deal with them fairly. Allow them the opportunity to give them a payout so they can either choose to build in High River or elsewhere, so they can get on with their lives.”
On Tuesday night, Durnie issued a release saying he regrets that his comment about sacrificing Hampton Hills has “shifted the focus” from the recovery of High River.
“My aim was simply to arm people with information that would allow them to work with government and insurance advisors to rebuild their lives,” he says. “I regret creating this distraction and I sincerely hope that, tomorrow, we can continue to focus on our reconstruction efforts.”