Several hundred members of the Wabaseemoong Independent Nation have been evacuated to Niagara Falls.
That’s because of three wildfires that are threatening their community.
Chief Waylon Scott says they would have liked to be closer to the First Nation but there just weren’t any hotels available locally.
“802 community members are in Niagara Falls, so I can imagine that amount wouldn’t be accommodated in Kenora, Dryden and Fort Frances,” Scott told a media scrum on Sunday.
“The number of hotels is just simply not there.”
Scott says reports from the evacuees are all pretty positive, they are helping them as much as possible.
“Similar to the 2021 evacuation, the services that they got when they were in London are the same as they are getting in Niagara Falls. Which are services that are really looking after them. Services like having nurse practitioners at the hotel.”
Scott adds that hotels in cities like Winnipeg, Thunder Bay and London, Ontario are currently being used as evacuation centers for other First Nation communities in Manitoba and northern Ontario.
He says a few evacuees are in Kenora, but that’s due to health issues: being in close proximity to things like dialysis, or other medical services.
(File photo)
