Cross Lake elder turns 80 next month; going home her birthday wish

Winnipeg Free Press

2 days ago

Nora McLeod turns 80 next month, and for her birthday, she hopes to be back home to celebrate in Cross Lake.
'Hopefully,' she said, seated on a couch near the lobby of the Victoria Inn, her cellphone firmly in hand.
McLeod is among the many Cross Lake evacuees currently staying at the airport-area hotel. The latest word among them is that American firefighters are being deployed to help fight the nearby blaze.
Cross Lake Chief David Monias confirmed to the Free Press that U.S. firefighters are expected to arrive Friday. A report from the Canadian Interagency Forest Fire Centre on Tuesday noted that 99 American firefighters are being sent to Manitoba.
That news brought relief to McLeod, who had heard from people still in the community that fires were leaping from island to island.
'My home is on an island,' she said. 'Hopefully, it's safe.'
She arrived in Winnipeg by car on Saturday, choosing not to fly on a C-130 Hercules.
'I might have had a heart attack,' she said, admitting she's too nervous for air travel.
Instead, she travelled with her son and daughter-in-law, completing the 800-kilometre journey from Norway House — their first evacuation stop — to Winnipeg.
As an elder, McLeod was able to skip the congregate evacuation centres and secure a hotel room.
'It's been tiring,' she said.
A great-grandmother, McLeod noted that her family is scattered — across Winnipeg, and as far away as Niagara Falls in southern Ontario.
This isn't her first evacuation. She remembers 1989, when 25,000 people from 25 Northern Manitoba communities were forced from their homes during one of Canada's worst forest fire seasons.
At the time, she was an addictions worker and remained in the community to assist evacuees and firefighters.
'The fires were so close,' she said. 'We still couldn't go home. We had to stay in the band office. I tell my grandchildren now that we worked and we had a hard time. We couldn't sleep. The only pillow I had was a paper-towel roll.'
Now, McLeod spends much of her time reading updates online and through Facebook, monitoring what friends and neighbours post.
'I keep checking my camera, as well,' she said. The security camera shows her home on an island in the community, untouched, so far, by the flames.
At the nearby Best Western, 61-year-old Mauricio Diaz-Lopez, his 32-year-old wife Joelynn Scott and their 10-year-old daughter Mayela Diaz-Lopez have been in Winnipeg for only a few days.
Unlike many evacuees, they are from Wabaseemoong Independent Nations in northern Ontario. Their community was the first First Nation in the area to be evacuated after the Kenora 20 wildfire — which started in Ingolf, Ont., and later led to the closure of Manitoba's Whiteshell Provincial Park — began threatening the region last month.
'We were sent to Niagara Falls,' said Mauricio, originally from Nicaragua. 'We were there for about two weeks.'
Homesick, the family purchased flights back home, only to be evacuated to Winnipeg Monday.
'We wanted to be home. We live in the bush. Being somewhere else, it's just not the same,' Mauricio said.
He previously lived in Winnipeg, which made adjusting a bit easier. The family also knows others in the city.
'My best friend is here on the fourth floor,' Mayela said.
This isn't their first experience with evacuation. In 2021, the family had to leave their home due to wildfires, ending up in Thunder Bay while others from their community went to London, Ont.
Mauricio said the Red Cross has supported them with accommodations and meals. He also rented a car, and the family planned to spend Wednesday in Carman.
'It kills the day,' he said.
'And I can work on my driving,' added Joelynn.
Across the parking lot, Antonio Cook sat next to a Tataskweyak Cree Nation (Split Lake) elder on the edge of the hotel's water fountain.
Cook had just heard that the fire had reached the community, and that if the wind shifted direction, his and many other homes on the First Nation, about 900 kilometres northeast of Winnipeg, would be at risk.
'It's pretty hard,' Cook said, having had to travel to Gillam before being flown on a C-130 to Winnipeg.
After arriving, he spent about five hours at Billy Mosienko Arena, one of the city's congregate evacuation sites, before heading to the hotel.
'They've been treating us good, meals three times a day,' he said. 'I'm enjoying myself right now.'
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Scott BilleckReporter
Scott Billeck is a general assignment reporter for the Free Press. A Creative Communications graduate from Red River College, Scott has more than a decade's worth of experience covering hockey, football and global pandemics. He joined the Free Press in 2024. Read more about Scott.
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