Hundreds of wildfire evacuees who were allowed to carry only one bag with them as they scrambled to get out of northern Manitoba are in need of donations, as it could be weeks before they can go back home.
Roughly 240 evacuees from Mathias Colomb Cree Nation, also known as Pukatawagan, have been sheltering at the Winnipeg Soccer Federation North complex on Leila Avenue, along with about 400 people from Pimicikamak Cree Nation.
Thousands of people in both northern Manitoba communities were put under mandatory evacuation orders last week after separate out-of-control wildfires moved closer to the First Nations.
Mary Sylvia Caribou, an emergency measures co-ordinator with Pukatawagan, said each evacuee was only allowed to bring one bag with them from their homes, and donations are needed.
“There’s lots of babies, and we need more stuff like socks, pampers and milk. We don’t have much stuff for them,” Caribou said. “There’s a lot more kids than adults.”
A tent has been set up outside the complex where evacuees are staying and donations can be dropped off there.
“Just come down, drop whatever. We’re here all day,” she said.
Catie St. Germain was dropping off donations at different locations in Winnipeg on Monday, including the soccer complex.
She purchased boxes of diapers, formula and hygiene products with roughly $3,000 she raised online, inspired by a friend that started a similar campaign for wildfire evacuees.
“I’m a mom of three kids. I know how it is, especially if you had to leave in a hurry and you don’t have those supplies,” St. Germain said. “We are here to help.”
Since posting online about the donations drive she had others reach out offering furniture for babies including playpens, high chairs and strollers that she will pick up and drop off.
“I want everybody to feel like you’re not forgotten about. You are cared for. You are loved,” she said.
The Manitoba Métis Federation is opening up a drop-off site for donations for evacuees at 25 Ray Marius Rd., in the Transcona Industrial Park area in Winnipeg.
Meanwhile, the Canadian Red Cross has opened up a fundraiser for monetary donations that will be used to support evacuees and the communities hosting them.
Thousands of Manitobans don’t know how long they will be out of their homes due to wildfires. More than 17,000 people are displaced, according to the province’s latest numbers. Evacuees don’t know how long they’ll be away from home and supplies are running low.
‘I had no hope’
Caribou was evacuated from Pukatawagan to Thompson last week with hundreds of other residents who had been relocated in southern Manitoba.
“It was very hectic. It has been first-come, first-served,” she said. “I’ve only had maybe three hours, four hours of rest since we left, so I am doing the best I can to help.”
Caribou said the accommodations for evacuees at the soccer complex are OK but there have been some challenges, including about three showers in each washroom that are being used by at least 600 people staying there.
There are plans to move some of the evacuees from Winnipeg to Brandon, where there are more hotel spaces available for residents, said Caribou. That could happen as early as Monday, but they are waiting on instructions from Pukatawagan’s chief and council.
“I’m not leaving ’til everybody leaves and then I follow them wherever we’re going to go,” she said.
Pukatawagan was evacuated in 1998 and 2022. During the last evacuation, Caribou said residents were out of the First Nation for five weeks. Now they are being told it might be approximately two months before they can come back.
“There’s still fire, but they are containing it,” she said. “It rained the other day, so that was a good thing. We’re praying for it.”
Eli Caribou, 17, and his family are some of the roughly 240 Pukatawagan evacuees staying at the soccer complex in Winnipeg, which is about 700 kilometres southeast from their home in the Cree Nation.
He left Pukatawagan on Saturday after waiting for days to be airlifted, along with hundreds more who were stranded when heavy smoke closed the community’s only airport last week and limited the evacuation to aircraft carrying between six to 13 people at a time.
“I had no hope. I completely gave up,” he said. “Helicopters were barely coming in and all fires were getting close.”
The evacuation ramped up during the weekend after the airport reopened and double-rotor helicopters from the Canadian Forces started carrying more residents out of the community.
From his window seat in the helicopter, the 17-year-old said he had a view of smoke filling the sky in a mushroom cloud shape billowing from the fire burning on the ground.
“I’m just glad we got out. I’m just hoping everyone else got out of the community and I hope the fires die down all around,” he said.
Are you an evacuee who needs assistance? Contact Manitoba 211 by calling 211 from anywhere in Manitoba or email 211mb@findhelp.ca.
