As emergency officials work to find hotel space for wildfire evacuees on the Prairies, a Manitoba Indigenous group says it has welcomed residents from the Pimicikamak Cree Nation at a hotel in Niagara Falls, Ont.
The organization, which represents Indigenous peoples in Manitoba, said in a social media post that the first of the evacuees from Pimicikamak were greeted Sunday at the airport in Hamilton with snacks and drinks before being loaded onto a bus for the last portion of their trip.
A hot meal was waiting for them, the post said, and children and pets were welcome at the hotel, too.
"Once they are done they will have access to their room to get settled. We look forward to greeting the next two planes arriving later today," said the MKO post.
Thousands of people have been affected by wildfires in Manitoba, Saskatchewan and Alberta prompted by hot, dry weather that have allowed some fires to grow and threaten communities.
Indigenous leaders in Manitoba noted in a news conference on Saturday that hotel rooms in the province where evacuees have been arriving are full and children have been sleeping on floors. The leaders called for politicians to issue a directive to hotel owners to give evacuees priority.
A member of the Saskatchewan legislature said in a statement that fire evacuees there have also told her that are very few, if any, available hotel rooms in Prince Albert and Saskatoon at the moment.
Higher courts in Manitoba and Saskatchewan were scheduled to meet in Winnipeg this week for a joint education session, but both courts decided to cancel the meeting given the pressing need to make hotel spaces available for people displaced by fires.
"The courts are mindful of the serious and devastating impact these fires are having on communities in both provinces and of the institutional need to provide support to the efforts already underway," a joint statement released on Sunday said.
The Manitoba government said its emergency social services are working with partners to ensure people evacuating from northern Manitoba are able to find shelter.
Some 17,000 Manitobans have had to leave their homes due to fires.
Officials in Flin Flon, Man., where a nearby out-of-control wildfire crews have been trying to keep a nearby blaze at bay, said the fire burning near the mining city has been contained to outside its perimeter highway, and that as of Saturday evening there have been no structure losses.
Manitoba issued an evacuation order for Bakers Narrows Provincial Park, just south of Flin Flon, over the weekend due to the blaze in the area.
Local officials said there were some property and structure losses in the Bakers Narrows vicinity, but did not have total numbers on how many properties were affected.
Officials said in a Facebook post Sunday morning that electricity has been restored in parts of Flin Flon and that work continues to get all areas back online.
"We're incredibly grateful for all of the support that departments from across Manitoba have provided us. They've done an outstanding job protecting our homes and the town we love," the post said.
Roughly 600 residents of Cranberry Portage in northwestern Manitoba were also placed under a mandatory evacuation order because fire had knocked out power to the community — a situation expected to last for days.
The Saskatchewan government, meanwhile, issued an evacuation alert Sunday morning for the dozens of residents that live in the small northern hamlet of Timber Bay.
Residents were told to leave the community on their own and head south to a hotel in Regina, about 484 kilometres away, to receive further support.
"The wildfire is fast-moving, and individuals in the northern hamlet of Timber Bay must start evacuation immediately," the alert said.
Elsewhere across the Prairies, some communities have seen some relief from the dry, hot weather conditions.
Several forest management areas in northern Alberta reported that cooler weather, with some rain, was subduing fire activity and allowing firefighting crews to make better headway against multiple blazes burning throughout the region.
The Edith Lake wildfire that's been threatening the evacuated community of Swan Hills, Alta., was still listed as out-of-control late Saturday, although the provincial wildfire agency said cooler temperatures were helping.
"While the wildfire has grown in size, its closest point to the community of Swan Hills has not changed at this time. Conditions on the wildfire are actively changing and the evacuation order remains in place," an update on Saturday night stated.
It also noted that high-volume water and sprinkler systems have also been installed in the town of 1,300.
In a message shared on social media on Sunday afternoon, Quebec Premier Francois Legault said a team of 20 firefighters to Manitoba and a specialized management team to Alberta. The province has already sent two waterbombers to Saskatchewan and Ontario, Legault said in the statement.
"Our hearts go out to you all. A special thank you to our courageous pilots and firefighters," Legault wrote.
This report by The Canadian Press was first published June 1, 2025.
The Canadian Press
