Johannes Mulder, a Hope local, is a 2023 Medal of Good Citizenship winner for his leadership skills during the 2021 November floods.
Announced on Jan. 3 in a press release, Mulder is one of 21 recipients who have been honoured for their “extraordinary contributions to community life.” Mulder, an environmental enforcement officer living in Laidlaw, received the award for using his law enforcement and military background to ensure “crucial communication links” between his community and emergency operation centres.
“I’m kind of surprised,” Mulder said when asked about the award. “I wasn’t really expecting to hear about anything like this. I was just trying to help my neighbourhood here — trying to run around and help other people who could be helped because I thought we were going to lose our house.
“And I would have felt bad, too, if there were people who had damages to their house, or things went badly, and I was just sitting around doing nothing. That would have offended my sense of community.”
Born in Chilliwack and raised in Agassiz, Mulder moved to Laidlaw with his wife around 15 years ago. Since then, the couple have had four children and are enjoying being part of the community.
According to Mulder, during both atmospheric river events Laidlaw was cut off from Hope to Laidlaw and Laidlaw to Popkum. This made providing aid to the community difficult. Laidlaw also didn’t (and still doesn’t) have their own fire department as well as emergency response services.
During the atmospheric river event, Mulder said he called the Fraser Valley Regional District’s (FVRD) emergency operations centre and asked if there were plans to help the community prepare or evacuate. As FVRD was trying to help multiple communities and didn’t have quick access to Laidlaw, they informed Mulder that they were unable to help the community at the time but would step in if “things got really bad” for residents.
“It was an entirely realistic answer,” Mulder said. “I recognized that everybody was stretched and stuck doing what they were doing. And there was the fact that the highway was blocked on either side of us. But at that point I was like, somebody’s got to do something.
“I had worked at Transport Canada for a number of years as a boating safety officer. And I had training in the incident command systems. And I was like, well, let’s pull this training out. And I set up an emergency operation centre here in my (office), and called in a couple of neighbours. We sat down and we said, ‘what can we do? What do we need to be worried about?’ And I started putting this training into action.”
With the help of his neighbours, Mulder said that the community was able to handle and resolve the first atmospheric river incident. Under his leadership, wellness checks were conducted, aid was provided to those stranded by the flooding, and preparations were made in case of evacuations. Mulder also took charge and created a helicopter landing zone for medical emergencies — which, the Province said “highlighted a commitment that went above and beyond.”
Because of the work done under Mulder’s lead, the community was able to carry forward their previous preparations and work when the flood conditions worsened. He was able to maintain the ad hoc emergency operations centre he’d set up for Laidlaw. And, through social media, he was able to create a sandbagging campaign that allowed residences, vital infrastructure to be protected from serious damage. As such, because of Mulder, the community was able to prevent most of their residences, farms, and critical roadways from being damaged.
“We were able to call on resources,” Mulder said. “I now had contacts with the Province and the regional district. And we kind of had our own little network set up here.
“So, we just put people to work. And when the regional district offered the military for the day we took them up on it. And that was great cause some of the (military) people were from my own regiments. And it was kind of kind of neat to be able to have my own regiments on the ground here and help us out for an operational period — you know, help us get some sandbags made up and transport and place them.”
Mulder said that being able to help his community was a big “relief” as it allowed him to not feel so helpless during such a difficult time. He is also grateful to his community for stepping up during such a difficult time and working together with him to keep everybody safe. While he is grateful no serious harm came to residences and people, he said the floods highlighted Laidlaw’s need for emergency response services. Currently he, along with other residents, are trying to get a fire department set up in the community. They are also, as a way to be prepared for future disasters and emergencies, trying to set up a community incident response team.
“People really should be prepared for (emergencies),” Mulder said. “Community strength is also important. Know your neighbours, check up on your neighbours, and look out for people. Because that to me that community resilience — that community network — is absolutely invaluable. And that’s what’s nice about Laidlaw. We have that community network.”
READ MORE: Chilliwack woman hailed a ‘hero’ in train-rescue attempt could lose home
@KemoneMoodley
kemone.moodley@hopestandard.com
Like us on Facebook and follow us on Twitter.