Latest news with #NCN
CTV News
3 days ago
- Climate
- CTV News
Photo shows how close a wildfire came to damaging a northern Manitoba community
Wildfire damage around Nisichawayasihk Cree Nation is seen in this undated photo. (Nisichawayasihk Cree Nation/Facebook) A new image demonstrates just how close a wildfire came to destroying a Manitoba community. In a Facebook post on Thursday, Nisichawayasihk Cree Nation (NCN) released a picture that shows wildfire damage surrounding part of the community. In the image, the forested area around the community is burned to the ground; however, the structures within the area remain largely untouched. As of Tuesday, community members have started to return home. According to the latest NCN community update, weather conditions throughout the next week will be favourable to wildfire efforts, with lower temperatures, higher humidity and potential for rain expected. The Cree Nation noted that activity across the fires threatening the community remains low.
Winnipeg Free Press
08-07-2025
- Winnipeg Free Press
Hotel space in Winnipeg tight as number of evacuees rises
The provincial government has warned it has to consider temporary congregate shelters for wildfire evacuees because hotel space is limited. Leaf Rapids residents were ordered to leave by 10 a.m. Tuesday, while Thompson residents are on alert to evacuate. New evacuees are being asked to travel to Winnipeg while authorities find hotel rooms for people as quickly as possible, a provincial spokesperson said Tuesday. 'With over 6,600 Manitobans currently evacuated, and more priority 1 residents (people with the most serious health concerns) evacuating, available hotel space is limited,' the spokesperson said in an email. 'Congregate shelters may be needed to provide temporary shelter while work continues to quickly move people into hotel rooms.' The soccer complex on Leila Avenue, which was used as a shelter when Flin Flon was evacuated, reopened as a reception centre Tuesday, and may be used as a shelter if needed. Manitoba Hotel Association president Michael Juce said that while the summer is typically busy for hotels, some in large urban markets have more availability than usual because there are fewer conferences and business events. There are around 15,000 hotel rooms in Manitoba, with about 70 per cent occupied at any given time. Juce said it's difficult to say if there would be enough hotel rooms for evacuees, even if operators free up as many rooms as possible. 'Some trips can be delayed, but there's some folks who are in hotels, who are staying for medical reasons, for example, and that makes things obviously complex as well,' he said. Last month, Premier Wab Kinew suggested the province could use emergency powers to require 'a small, small minority' of hotel owners that had not made rooms available for evacuees to do so. 'I know hotels will do their best to accommodate people for whatever reason they're staying,' Juce said. Thompson was preparing for a possible evacuation, although a fire north of the city did not pose an immediate threat Tuesday. Mayor Colleen Smook said evacuees would likely have to be sent outside the province if Thompson was evacuated. The city is the largest in northern Manitoba, and a regional service hub. 'If Thompson goes down, you're not just moving 15,000 people. You're taking away essential services for 70,000 people in the north,' Smook said. 'Manitoba has no room for us. Winnipeg is full, Brandon is full. 'We'd be talking about (hotel rooms in) other provinces and maybe the United States.' Nisichawayasihk Cree Nation (Nelson House) is asking the federal and provincial governments, and the Canadian Red Cross to help co-ordinate an evacuation involving more than 300 high-priority residents, including people with medical conditions, infants and elders. Chief Angela Levasseur said NCN was told 'there are no hotel rooms' for evacuees from her community. NCN does not want its members to be lodged in congregate shelters, a news release said. Provincial staff were looking at hotel options within and outside Manitoba in case at least parts of Thompson have to evacuate, Christine Stevens, assistant deputy minister of the Manitoba Emergency Management Organization, said Monday. Pimicikamak Cree Nation Chief David Monias announced a voluntary evacuation for the entire community Monday due to several wildfires in the area. Voluntary evacuees would have to arrange their own accommodations because hotel rooms are 'currently full,' or stay at the Leila Avenue congregate shelter, if available, he wrote in a Facebook post. He said 60 hotel rooms were available for medically vulnerable evacuees, who've been flown to Winnipeg. — With files from Chris Kitching Malak AbasReporter Malak Abas is a city reporter at the Free Press. Born and raised in Winnipeg's North End, she led the campus paper at the University of Manitoba before joining the Free Press in 2020. Read more about Malak. Every piece of reporting Malak 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.
Yahoo
31-05-2025
- Entertainment
- Yahoo
"Kids Are Not Your Political Pawns": 24 Tweets Calling Out The Ridiculousness Of Politics This Week
Editor's Note: While we can't endorse what X has become, we can bring you the worthwhile moments that still exist there, curated and free of the surrounding chaos. American politics is chaos right now, but I find it comforting to know I'm not alone in thinking the world has gone bananas. So, here are 24 of the best, most relatable, and sometimes funny political tweets from the last week: 1. 2. 3. 4. NCN / Twitter: @NoLieWithBTC 5. 6. ABC / Twitter: @RepSwalwell 7. TACO stands for Trump Always Chickens Out. Related: 18 Major Global Events That American Media Is Ignoring Right Now, And Why They Actually Matter To Us 8. 9. 10. 11. Related: "MAGAs Are The Dumbest People On This Planet": 26 Tweets About The Sad State Of Politics This Week 12. 13. 14. 15. 16. 17. 18. 19. 20. MeritTV / Twitter: @pdmcleod 21. Kevin Mazur/ACMA2017/Getty Images for ACM / Twitter: @bjoewolf 22. 23. 24. And finally: Skyline Report / Twitter: @SkylineReport See you next week! For more political tweets, check out our most recent roundup: "This Is Why Oklahoma Is 49th In Education": 21 Tweets Calling Out The Absolute Chaos Of Politics This Week Also in In the News: An Ad Against Far-Right Voters Is Going Viral For Being Both Terrifying And (Kinda) Accurate Also in In the News: Miss USA's 2024 "National Costume" Has Been Revealed, And It's Obviously An Interesting Choice Also in In the News: One Body Language Expert Spotted Something Very Telling When Donald Trump "Held His Own Hand" At His Recent Press Conference
Winnipeg Free Press
26-04-2025
- Health
- Winnipeg Free Press
From crossroads to a path forward
NISICHAWAYASIHK CREE NATION — Two years ago, Felix Walker was at a crossroads. Walker has worked with the Nisichawayasihk Cree Nation (NCN) Family and Community Wellness Centre for more than 24 years, now serving as its CEO. Located in NCN, which is based in Nelson House in northern Manitoba, the Wellness Centre serves both as a gathering space and a hub for locals to access a broad range of health and wellness services. This includes health care, early childhood education, counselling and community support programs. BRETT NICHOLLS / FREE PRESS Felix Walker, CEO of the NCN Family & Community Wellness Centre, poses in front of the boardroom. Walker has been involved with the Wellness Centre for more than 20 years. But with the looming construction of a new health facility on the reserve, Walker became uncertain about the future of the centre. It was while confiding in Dr. Patricia Makosis — a renowned Indigenous author and public speaker from Saddle Lake, Alta. — that Walker recognized the path forward. 'Imagine a 25-year-old who was totally raised in the culture of your nation,' she said to him. 'What characteristics would that person have?' He took the question to his staff, and they came back with what he referred to as the 'road map of an almost perfect human being.' '(This person) knew their language. They knew who their relatives were. They knew their extended families. They knew how to take care of themselves. They knew how to take care of others and they knew what the relationship was around them with nature, the physical environment, the emotional and spiritual environments,' Walker said. His goal from that point on became clear: to develop a child and young-person strategy. The centre would evolve to help nurture people like that in their own community. NCN has a population of about 4,500 people, and is located 88 kilometres north of Thompson — the largest city in northern Manitoba. Gathering spaces are few, and the streets are often quiet. Local residents can face difficulties in accessing certain essential services. The wellness centre helps fill the gap of a dedicated community centre, which the remote community has lacked. 'I have to believe the wellness centre, because of its uniqueness, is why people are here,' said family-enhancement supervisor Edith Moody. 'They're drawn to be here,' she said. 'And I think the energy is pretty good in here, that you're welcome. It's almost like, 'Come on, come to my house,' you know?' SUPPLIED The new NCN health facility will offer health, dental and pharmacy care under one roof. Visitors stop to pet dogs lounging by the doors and, once inside, are likely to notice the imposing buffalo head mounted on the wall as well as many portraits of former chiefs. Laughter echoes through the hallways as community members exchange greetings, moving through the space with purpose. When Walker started as director of health-related services at the centre in 2001, it was operating with a $1.5-million budget and a staff of 40. It is now composed of six branches across Manitoba, growing to nearly 400 employees and working with an operating budget of $48 million. 'The environment is welcoming. It's warm, it's available. You can go to anybody's office door, knock and they will take the time to try and help you with whatever you need,' said Lynda Wright, director of health. Big changes are on the way. With a new health facility set to be built on the reserve by 2028, Walker said the wellness centre soon expects to shift its focus. The new 35,200-sq.-ft. NCN health centre will include health, dental and pharmacy care as well as emergency services and community programming all under one roof. As a result, most health-related services currently under the umbrella of the wellness centre will be moved to the new health facility and be splintered off from its other programming. Walker said the wellness centre will soon become mainly focused on ensuring the well-being of young people in the community by leaning into its child and family services (CFS) programs, as well as its child and young-person strategy. He said he and his staff aim to promote a holistic approach, weaving cultural practices together with land-based education that will include community-focused activities such as sweat lodges, medicine picking, fish and moose harvesting, and cultural events. The wellness centre is frequented by a broad swathe of the community. Last year, there were 9,750 staff encounters, and 1,928 clients sought health services. BRETT NICHOLLS / FREE PRESS The site of the planned NCN Health Centre. The new facility will be built by 2028. 'It'll be a loss to the organization and the camaraderie that we've developed over time. It's just another series of us looking at ourselves in the mirror and changing to meet the needs and dynamics of the community,' Walker said. People in NCN stand to benefit from some of the new health centre's services. The nursing station on the reserve is currently staffed by only four rotating nurses. There is no access to dialysis and dental service is limited. Residents often drive an hour east to Thompson for medical services. 'Many people don't have vehicles. There's so many people falling through the cracks,' said Wright. In the fall, the wellness centre will launch a program to help 25 residents attain nursing diplomas, an effort aimed at addressing staffing gaps and shortages in the area. The impending move to the new health facility is weighing on Moody, who has been working at the wellness centre for more than 20 years. 'For me, personally, when we learned of the new centre… I was really upset,' she said. 'I think it's going to make it harder for the community to access programming, because we're centred right in the community. When you come in, you get health, you get child and family services, you get all sorts of programming… It's still a sore subject for me, but we will continue. We'll just look a little bit different.' Charlene Kobliski, a resource worker with the centre's CFS department, said the welcoming nature of the facility helped her reconnect with her cultural heritage. 'It was only recently that, because of the wellness centre, I started allowing myself to connect with prayers and ceremony and smudge and medicines,' she said. BRETT NICHOLLS / FREE PRESS Edith Moody is the family-enhancement supervisor at the NCN Family and Community Wellness Centre. 'It's super important because it allows for me not only to be able to bring it to the community, but it keeps that tradition alive for my kids.' During Elections Get campaign news, insight, analysis and commentary delivered to your inbox during Canada's 2025 election. According to Walker, the 'almost perfect human being' that he was referring to actually does exist. 'In every Indigenous community, they're there. They're just waiting to be asked. It's your grandparents, it's your great uncle, it's your great aunt,' he said. But poverty, generational trauma and disconnection from cultural traditions have made them less visible. By focusing its efforts on young people in the community, the centre hopes to make a difference for future generations. 'Hopefully, at some point, we're in a better position to thrive,' Walker said. 'And those histories a lot of us have experienced, those would become a distant memory. They would become stuff of legend. And we're going to use the internal programs and structures we currently have to start laying the foundation for us getting there.' fpcity@
