‘Scrambling' to get last people out of Pimicikamak
The chief of Pimicikamak Cree Nation wants the last of his people to leave the remote Manitoba First Nation as a nearby wildfire closes in.
Efforts are underway to gather about 50 residents and 66 emergency management team members who remain in Pimicikamak and fly them out of the community, Chief David Monias said in a message to the Free Press.
'We are scrambling to get the remaining people out,' he said Tuesday. 'They will be evacuating, leaving only firefighters behind.'
As of Friday, the fire near Pimicikamak Cree Nation had burned about 1,500 hectares. (Submitted)
Monias said he wanted the evacuation to be completed quickly, fearing fires burning on either side of Pimicikamak could cut off road access to Norway House.
'It's right at our doorstep,' he said.
Monias told reporters during a morning news conference that some residents were reluctant to leave the community.
'The things that are frustrating are we are having to run around and get everybody out, and we are doing this all on our own. We've sort of been getting the RCMP helping us to do all this stuff, but they're not forcing anybody.'
Pimicikamak is one of many communities under evacuation orders as wildfires rage in several corners of the province. People began fleeing the First Nation voluntarily as early as May 23, and hundreds more have evacuated since.
A mandatory evacuation order was implemented Wednesday. Some residents were evacuated by air until high winds and smoke grounded flights and shuttered the airport.
A total of about 17,000 Manitobans are expected to be displaced by wildfires. Many have fled to larger cities, where the Canadian Red Cross is co-ordinating accommodations at hotels or inside makeshift emergency shelters.
Monias has been critical of the provincial and federal governments, who he said were slow to heed warnings from First Nation officials about the need for an evacuation.
He outlined his criticism in a speech shared with the Free Press — parts of which are expected to be read aloud in the House of Commons during an emergency debate on the wildfire situation Tuesday, he said.
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Pimicikamak and the nearby community of Cross Lake jointly declared a state of emergency on May 21. The former community falls under the jurisdiction of Indigenous Services Canada, while the latter is the responsibility of the province, the speech said.
'We did not allow protocol, jurisdiction or fiscal policy to delay our emergency response. We came together as leaders and did what was necessary,' Monias said.
'In stark contrast, the federal and provincial governments became entangled in debates over jurisdiction, protocols and cost-sharing, rather than putting people first.'
The Canadian Armed Forces said in an email that as of the end of day Monday, its members had evacuated more than 3,500 Manitobans because of wildfires. The most recent evacuations included using a CC-130 Hercules plane to fly residents from Cross Lake to Winnipeg and helicopters to take people from PMathias Colomb Cree Nation (Pukatawagan) to The Pas.
tyler.searle@freepress.mb.ca
Tyler SearleReporter
Tyler Searle is a multimedia producer who writes for the Free Press's city desk. A graduate of Red River College Polytechnic's creative communications program, he wrote for the Stonewall Teulon Tribune, Selkirk Record and Express Weekly News before joining the paper in 2022. Read more about Tyler.
Every piece of reporting Tyler produces is reviewed by an editing team before it is posted online or published in print — part of the Free Press's tradition, since 1872, of producing reliable independent journalism. Read more about Free Press's history and mandate, and learn how our newsroom operates.
Our newsroom depends on a growing audience of readers to power our journalism. If you are not a paid reader, please consider becoming a subscriber.
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