Hundreds of Pimicikamak Cree Nation wildfire evacuees begin returning home

CBC

2 days ago

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Wildfire evacuees from Pimicikamak Cree Nation are going home — again.
About 600 people from the northern Manitoba community have been in hotels in the south, primarily Winnipeg and Brandon, since early July. They were flown out about three weeks after having initially returned in mid-June.
"This return home is about listening to our peoples wishes, basically. They're lonely and they want to come home," Chief David Monias said on Wednesday.
Buses began taking people to the airports in Winnipeg and Brandon on Wednesday while others will be flown home over the next two days, Monias said.
He didn't sugarcoat the situation that still exists in the community near Cross Lake, about 520 kilometres north of Winnipeg.
Rain has helped improve things but there is still thick smoke at times. And the community is under a boil water advisory because the treatment plant is not working.
Monias said the plant is "old and archaic" and those trying to fix it are having trouble finding parts.
"The old pumps are not producing enough water. And when there's not enough water, there's not enough pressure," he said.
"So they're aware of that, when they come home, this is what they're coming home to. But we're really trying to listen to them [and] people still feel confident that they'll be able to handle it."
The entire community of about 7,000 people was evacuated at the end of May due to the threats from a pair of wildfires.
They were dispersed to hotels and other shelters across Manitoba and as far away as Niagara Falls, Ont.
By mid-June, despite the community still being under a state of emergency, officials determined the threat had subsided enough to lift the evacuation order. In early July, the situation shifted once. The fire moved close again and smoke clogged the air.
The most vulnerable and those with priority medical needs were flown out immediately, with more in the following days.
Due to other evacuees from around the province also being housed in Winnipeg, hotel space was at a premium. That meant those from Pimicikamak were spread across a half-dozen hotels, Monias said.
That made it difficult for them to get together to support one another, which then makes the adjustment to life in the city that much harder, he said.
"Most of them have been so used to living in in Cross Lake for such a long time that the city, while it's a good place to visit and so forth, it's not some place they want to stay for for long periods of time," Monias said.
So it's time to bring them back, he added.