From flames to Falls: Canada’s Indigenous wildfire evacuees take refuge in Niagara

NIAGARA FALLS, Ont. — As wildfires engulfed Manitoba’s remote north in late May, Joseph Garry, 63, fled the Mathias Colomb Cree Nation indigenous reserve, also known as Pukatawagan, on a helicopter.

With other evacuees, he took three separate government flights before boarding a bus to find shelter in Niagara Falls, Canada’s most popular tourist destination, some 2,000 kilometres from home.

Scores of wildfires have swept across Canada since the start of May, forcing more than 30,000 people to evacuate in three provinces, spreading smoke into the U.S., and disrupting crude oil and mining production.

Indigenous communities have been hit especially hard. Although First Nations people make up only around 5 per cent of Canada’s population, they are among the most affected by this year’s wildfires.

Manitoba is struggling with its largest-ever fire evacuation effort. Early evacuees took shelter in community and sport centers in Winnipeg, but the province’s cities are running out of space, forcing officials to turn to other locations such as Ontario’s Niagara Falls, which has ample hotels.

Around 2,000 evacuees from Manitoba and 500 from Northern Ontario are staying in four hotels in Niagara Falls, with more possibly arriving in coming days, according to Jo Zambito, chief of the Niagara Falls Fire Department.

While the city is proud to help fellow Canadians during a crisis, Niagara Falls Mayor Jim Diodati urged the federal and provincial governments to consider alternative accommodations as peak tourism season approaches.

Indigenous leaders in Manitoba have criticized both federal and provincial governments for inadequate communication and delays in delivering requested resources during the wildfire crisis, while Pukatawagan residents recounted a chaotic and frightening evacuation.

Videos shared by residents with Reuters showed military and civilian helicopters buzzing back and forth over the remote community of roughly 3,000 people, landing on the school field as thick wildfire smoke enveloped the area and flames inched nearer, and dozens of people huddled inside a Chinook military helicopter.

At one point, a pilot warned Garry and 100 others waiting to board that the fire was only half a kilometer away and being pushed closer by the wind.

“To tell you the truth, it’s... It’s scary. Not for myself, but for everybody else. Especially children,” Garry said, in tears while speaking at the hotel the federal government is housing him in.

Garry, a manager at the local airfield, left all his belongings behind except for a few sets of clothing and was briefly separated from two of his daughters and their children. His 50-person extended family was later reunited in Niagara Falls.

Vanessa Hart, 43, a stay-at-home mother from Pukatawagan who was evacuated to Niagara Falls, said that despite repeated pleas from their chief and council, help did not arrive for three to four days. She believes a faster evacuation could have prevented significant distress.

“They didn’t come and help right away,” Hart said.

Indigenous Services Canada, which managed the evacuation, said emergency response is a shared responsibility and first response is generally up to local authorities.

“The Government of Canada is working alongside First Nation partners, as well as provincial and territorial counterparts, and continues to closely monitor the rapidly evolving wildfire situation across the country,” the agency said in a statement.

Manitoba’s government said in an email that smoky conditions near Pukatawagan early in the emergency response prevented water bombers from providing vital air support.

“They (planes) were grounded for all fires in the area...but air support has been used extensively in the north whenever and wherever possible,” it added.

A date to return home for the evacuees in Niagara Falls is uncertain and depends on when plane and rail access are restored - possibly in one to two months.

Wildfire response in First Nations communities has been “pretty chaotic,” said Assembly of First Nations National Chief Cindy Woodhouse Nepinak. She called for more investment in basic infrastructure such as fire hydrants and fire trucks.

“We need more coordination. And we’ve been asking for it for decades,” she said.

Article by Wa Lone, Kyaw Soe Oo.

Additional reporting by Anna Mehler Paperny; Editing by Caroline Stauffer and Nia Williams.