Latest news with #HospitalitySaskatchewan
Yahoo
3 days ago
- Climate
- Yahoo
Some Sask. evacuees forced to find far-flung rooms on their own as wildfires put pressure on hotels
Maureen and Greg McBratney didn't have many options for places to stay when wildfire forced them to leave their home in Denare Beach, Sask., late last week. Maureen, 65, has kidney failure and usually receives dialysis three times a week across the border in Flin Flon, Man., but that city has also been evacuated due to an out-of-control fire very close to the community. A dialysis co-ordinator told Maureen to go to Yorkton to continue her treatment, but the retired couple is on a fixed income and struggled to find an affordable hotel. "We're staying at a hotel right now because we don't know anyone in Yorkton," Greg said. "We've tried to contact Red Cross and our house insurance [to pay for a hotel]." They're worried about where they'll go next. "We have nowhere to go after Friday. We're getting kicked out of the hotel because they're fully booked," Greg said. The couple doesn't expect to go home any time soon. Maureen cries when she thinks about the financial and emotional strain. "If you know anyone in Yorkton who wants to put up with a couple of old people for awhile, let us know." The Saskatchewan Public Safety Agency (SPSA) and other organizations are searching far and wide to identify any hotel space that could accept evacuees, SPSA vice-president of operations Steve Roberts said. "Anywhere from Prince Albert to Weyburn and from North Battleford to Hudson Bay," Roberts said during the SPSA daily wildfire update. "Basically, we're canvassing every community in Saskatchewan for their capacity and as evacuees come out, they will be directed to areas where they can be housed until they can return home." On Monday, a group of evacuees from Denare Beach and Creighton who ended up in Saskatoon held a protest in the city, demanding more resources to fight fires and help evacuees. They hoped to get the attention of Prime Minister Mark Carney and the premiers while they're in Saskatoon for the first ministers' meeting. There were about 8,000 evacuees from Saskatchewan communities as of Monday afternoon, according to the SPSA. Where evacuees end up depends on where they come from. The SPSA manages some, as does the Canadian Red Cross, while some First Nations also manage accommodations for evacuees from their communities. Added pressure comes when evacuee stays push into reservations made by sports teams or other large groups, leaving hotels a choice between kicking out evacuees or reneging on reservations. It's up to hotel management to decide who gets bumped, according to tourism trade group Hospitality Saskatchewan. "In both cases, you're dealing with folks that are displaced for whatever reason, whether it's an evacuation or a family that's traveled 100 miles to get to a ball tournament and they don't have a place to stay," said Jim Bence, Hospitality Saskatchewan president and CEO. "It's a real ethical dilemma in many cases. And it's one that, whether you're a front desk agent or a hotel manager, it's a struggle to make those decisions." WATCH | Finding accommodations yet another hurdle for wildfire evacuees: Bence said the province should create a central reservation system to manage hotel inventory during emergency situations. "The technology already exists," Bence said. "It's just how could we adapt it or enhance it so that governments or the Red Cross would be able to at a moment's notice be able to see, OK, I've got 10 rooms available in Warman. I've got 30 rooms available in Saskatoon.… If we could access everybody's inventory in real time, then you could make those decisions."
CTV News
3 days ago
- General
- CTV News
‘We have feelers already out': Sask. ready to lean on Alberta for help with evacuees if needed
WATCH: As the forests burn, and more people are displaced in the province, officials are reaching out to Alberta and Manitoba looking for support for evacuees. A wildfire raging near Pelican Narrows has led to nearly 2,000 people being evacuated from the area – with many of them finding refuge in Saskatoon. As of Sunday, June 1, more than 8,000 people had been evacuated due to wildfire risk. Monday evening saw that number expand by several thousand, as the communities of La Ronge, Air Ronge and Lac La Ronge Indian Band fell under mandatory evacuations. It's all hands-on deck to find places for people to go and that includes the local hospitality industry. 'When wildfires happen, that's typically the time of year when our hotels are getting full with other types of business so it can be a real challenge and can raise some real questions about how to best manage displaced persons, ' Jim Bence, CEO and president of Hospitality Saskatchewan, told CTV News. According to the Saskatchewan Public Safety Agency (SPSA), some people were taken to Cold Lake in Alberta last week. If needed, the province is prepared to lean on its western neighbour again. 'If Saskatchewan as a province is not able to support the numbers, then yes, indeed, we have feelers already out. Those are to our neighbours, obviously to the west which makes more sense because Manitoba is also constrained,' SPSA vice president of operations Steve Roberts explained. The Saskatoon Tribal Council (STC) is helping to move evacuees from some reserves while the SPSA is moving others, sometimes in the same area. 'So, that's where there's some confusion on, who do I contact if I need support. So, we understand that, but the primary goal is to get people out of harm's way and then try to get them to support sending once they're out of harm's way,' Roberts said. The Canadian Red Cross continues their work to help evacuees at The Cosmo Civic Centre and various hotels in Saskatoon. They are also providing an opportunity for Canadians who want to help. Anyone interested can do so by donating to the 2025 Saskatchewan Wildfire Appeal. The donations support Saskatchewan people impacted by the wildfires. Donations will ensure the Red Cross can provide immediate and ongoing aid. The hospitality industry, meanwhile, is currently working on a system where people can go in an emergency to quickly find accommodations provincewide. 'It won't just list which rooms are available, but where they're available so that when the traffic cascades, where can we get people situated the fastest, the most efficiently,' Bence said. As of Monday evening, 36 communities across northern Saskatchewan have either been evacuated or are under an evacuation order –leading to a constantly changing evacuee support plan.
CBC
24-03-2025
- Business
- CBC
Sask. walks back ban on American-branded beer made in Canada
Saskatchewan has reversed a decision to stop selling or distributing American-branded alcohol products made in Canada, after industry backlash. In wake of U.S. tariffs, the Saskatchewan Liquor and Gaming Authority (SLGA) said it notified beverage alcohol retailers, distributors and producers that American-branded products wouldn't be sold or distributed in the province. The SLGA originally released a list of 54 American alcohol brands, including Bud Light, Blue Moon, Busch, Kirkland Wine and others. Industry leaders like Jim Bence, the president and CEO of Hospitality Saskatchewan, argued many of the American beer brands that have headquarters in the U.S. are still brewed in Canada. Labatt Breweries of Canada says it employs about 3,500 people in the country and brews brands like Bud Light, Busch and Budweiser in Canada. Beer Canada also called on the province to reverse its decision. "Beer Canada is calling on Premier Moe's government to immediately reverse this heavy-handed market intervention, which inappropriately targets leading Canadian beer brands brewed in Alberta, British Columbia, Ontario, and Québec that are most often made from Saskatchewan and other Western Canadian-grown barley," a news release from the organization stated. On Monday, the government walked back its decision. It said in a statement that the move aligned with other provinces and that it would focus on alcohol produced in the U.S. "We have spent a lot of time speaking with stakeholders within the industry such as Hospitality Saskatchewan, speaking with the public, talking to some of our local distributors," Alana Ross, the minister responsible for SLGA, said on Monday. "We weren't really in line with what the other provinces were doing, so we took it back." The province said the sale and distribution of the 54 Canadian-produced American brands will resume. Bence said he appreciated the government's willingness to take feedback on the issue. "We applaud their ability to be able to [reverse the decision] and their willingness to look at information and roll back some of the pieces that they had implemented last week," Bence said. CBC has requested a list of American-made beers the province will now focus on.
