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Winnipeg Free Press
2 days ago
- Climate
- Winnipeg Free Press
Snow Lake residents get mandatory evacuation order; premier expresses ‘tremendous gratitude' to firefighters
Snow Lake residents have been ordered to leave the northern Manitoba community by noon Saturday due to an out-of-control wildfire that is burning in the region. The town of about 1,100 residents announced a mandatory evacuation order Friday. 'You must leave because of the danger to your health and safety,' a notice published on the town's Facebook page said. At least three fires have merged to become a massive blaze in Manitoba and Saskatchewan. Flin Flon, Sherridon and several other communities in both provinces were previously evacuated. (Manitoba Conservation) A state of local emergency and a 48-hour evacuation notice were previously declared. Mayor Ron Scott previously said a mandatory evacuation would be ordered if the fire moved closer to town. At least three fires have merged to become a massive blaze in Manitoba and Saskatchewan. Flin Flon, Sherridon and several other communities in both provinces were previously evacuated. In a Facebook post, the City of Flin Flon said the fire is about 140 kilometres long and five kilometres wide. The province said the fire was more than 307,000 hectares in Manitoba as of Thursday. A team of 260 people is trying to keep the fire out of Flin Flon and Creighton, just across the border in Saskatchewan. No structures had been destroyed in Flin Flon or Creighton as of Thursday night. 'Winds in the area are now blowing from the south, resulting in heavy smoke and fire moving towards the south side of Flin Flon,' the city said. Premier Wab Kinew saluted crews who are protecting communities, including Flin Flon and Sherridon, where teams have been holding flames back for more than a week. 'Hats off, and our tremendous gratitude to the firefighters — the local firefighters, Office of the Fire Commissioner, Wildfire Service — who've been battling these blazes,' he said at an unrelated event Friday. 'Just amazing work happening across the board, and it's happening because people are working together.' About 175 firefighters from across Canada and the U.S. have joined the fight. Mandatory evacuation orders are in place for at least 27 communities in Manitoba, resulting in the displacement of more than 18,000 residents. Many are staying with family or friends, or in hotel rooms. Hundreds of evacuees were flown to southern Ontario to stay in hotels there. Mandatory evacuation orders are in place for at least 27 communities in Manitoba, resulting in the displacement of more than 18,000 residents. More than 350 people were in congregate shelters as of Thursday. Provincial policy aims to get evacuees into hotel rooms rather than shelters, if they have nowhere else to stay. 'For those folks who are still in shelters, it's just a matter of matching them with rooms as they come online,' Kinew said. 'We're seeing about, over the past few days, maybe a couple hundred rooms become available per day.' Wednesdays Sent weekly from the heart of Turtle Island, an exploration of Indigenous voices, perspectives and experiences. A handful of northern communities have moved seniors and people with breathing or medical conditions to Winnipeg due to poor air quality. 'We just have to do a balancing act as new medical patients come in from northern Manitoba, because some communities continue to evacuate due to smoke,' Kinew said. 'We have to preserve some (hotel) rooms for people who have accessibility issues or really intense medical needs, while continuing to move people out of the congregate shelters. 'At this point, the big-picture challenge around rooms has largely been addressed, and it's now just about the daily balancing act of triaging people coming in and people who are already in shelters and matching them up with rooms.' — With files from Gabrielle Piché Chris KitchingReporter Chris Kitching is a general assignment reporter at the Free Press. He began his newspaper career in 2001, with stops in Winnipeg, Toronto and London, England, along the way. After returning to Winnipeg, he joined the Free Press in 2021, and now covers a little bit of everything for the newspaper. Read more about Chris. Every piece of reporting Chris 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. Our newsroom depends on its audience of readers to power our journalism. Thank you for your support.
Winnipeg Free Press
13-05-2025
- Winnipeg Free Press
Premier says hunters behind caribou slaughter to be punished
Premier Wab Kinew promised Tuesday that the people who slaughtered dozens of caribou, including pregnant cows, and dumped their carcasses at the doorstep of American-owned lodge properties in a provincial park, would be punished. 'Anybody who participated in this has no respect for animals, has no right to be able to hunt in this province and will be pursued and held accountable to the fullest extent of the law,' Kinew told the legislature in response to questions about the grisly discovery in Nueltin Lake Provincial Park last month. 'We're going to do that by working with non-Indigenous and Indigenous people,' the premier told the house, saying he's spoken to people who live off the land in that part of the province. Nick Scigliano, who owns two lodge properties in the park just south of the border with Nunavut, shared video of the grisly scene, discovered April 11, when he chartered a helicopter to check on his properties. He said he used his phone to record video from the air of people on snowmobiles chasing caribou and of dozens of dead caribou strewn in bloody piles across the snow. The video shows a helicopter door open at ground level and people passing by on snowmobiles. Scigliano said he didn't confront them before flying to Thompson to file a report to RCMP and Manitoba Conservation. He later returned to the site with RCMP. The lodge owner said near-term calves were among the caribou carnage, as well as unharvested meat. Cabins had been stripped and trashed, with furniture used as firewood. The vandals left human waste behind. The Florida resident, who has businesses in Pennsylvania and is an avid outdoorsman, bought the lodge four years ago. He planned to restore the buildings as fishing and eco-tourism hubs. Scigliano said he gave conservation officers and police 8,000 images and video surveillance clips that show several snowmobilers dragging the caribou carcasses behind their machines to the lodge property and hacking at them. 'I feel that it's just critically important for the public and for your leadership to be aware of the magnitude of what has occurred,' he said Tuesday. 'These images in the video, they speak for themselves.' In the legislature Tuesday, Tory natural resources critic Rick Wowchuk demanded to know what the province is doing about the 'senseless waste of caribou and this unsustainable madness.' The member for Swan River said in an interview the video upset him and should upset all Manitobans. 'When cows are returning to the calving grounds to give birth and to bring on the next generation, it's just totally unacceptable to see this type of slaughter occur.' NICK SCIGLIANO PHOTO The grisly scene was discovered on April 11, when lodge owner Nick Scigliano chartered a helicopter to check on his properties. NICK SCIGLIANO PHOTO The grisly scene was discovered on April 11, when lodge owner Nick Scigliano chartered a helicopter to check on his properties. Natural Resources Minister Ian Bushie said RCMP and Manitoba conservation officers are on it. 'I am deeply concerned by these reports of unethical hunting practices and wastage,' Bushie said in a prepared statement. 'We want to ensure that caribou can continue to be harvested for generations to come… it is critical that we hold the people involved to account,' said Bushie who was not available for an interview. The RCMP said Tuesday that no arrests have been made. Manitoba Conservation wouldn't comment on the active investigation or say whether charges are under consideration. Scigliano said he doesn't know the motive, or if it has anything to do with him being American and animosity towards the U.S. over tariffs and rhetoric about making Canada the 51st state. 'I sure hope not. That would be so sad, because I do not agree with the 51st state rhetoric whatsoever.' The Manitoba Wildlife Federation, which advocates for hunters, anglers, trappers and sport shooters, said the slaughter has to stop for the sake of the Qamanirjuaq caribou herd. 'We can't be shooting pregnant cows and expect a population to survive,' said federation policy analyst Chris Heald, who travelled to the site with Scigliano. 'It's hard to process what we witnessed,' Heald said Tuesday. 'The wastage of the meat and the shooting of the cows, it's just beyond words.' In a bulletin Tuesday, the federation said the herd has declined to 253,000 animals in 2022 from 496,000 animals in 1994. 'To ensure caribou are maintained for northern Indigenous communities, as well as for non-Indigenous caribou hunters, it's time for serious conversations that include everybody, to ensure that all hunters embrace sustainable caribou harvesting,' it said. Winnipeg Jets Game Days On Winnipeg Jets game days, hockey writers Mike McIntyre and Ken Wiebe send news, notes and quotes from the morning skate, as well as injury updates and lineup decisions. Arrives a few hours prior to puck drop. The provincial government must take the lead by getting all stakeholders to the table and laying down the law, said Heald, who noted Indigenous hunters are legally allowed to harvest cows right now. 'The province has to sit everybody down to have some difficult discussions,' he said. Justice Minister Matt Wiebe said the government is committed to listening to Indigenous communities, hunters and lodge owners. 'We're always listening to one another and bringing Manitobans together to find solutions.' Carol SandersLegislature reporter Carol Sanders is a reporter at the Free Press legislature bureau. The former general assignment reporter and copy editor joined the paper in 1997. Read more about Carol. Every piece of reporting Carol 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. Our newsroom depends on its audience of readers to power our journalism. Thank you for your support.
