Scott Billeck

3 weeks ago | winnipegfreepress.com | Scott Billeck

The Manitoba government confirmed Friday the decision to send some of the 18,000 wildfire evacuees to southern Ontario was made jointly with the federal government. “Manitoba, in partnership with Indigenous Services Canada, worked quickly to ensure evacuees secured shelter and lodging in Ontario, much like Manitoba housed over 1,000 evacuees from Wabaseemoong Independent Nations (in northwestern Ontario) in May,” a spokesperson said in an email.

3 weeks ago | winnipegfreepress.com | Scott Billeck

Michael McLeod noticed something Thursday that had become rare in recent weeks — smiles on people’s faces. Speaking to the Free Press from Niagara Falls, Ont., the 36-year-old Cross Lake resident was still taking in the wonder of seeing the world famous waterfalls for the very first time.

3 weeks ago | winnipegfreepress.com | Scott Billeck

Nora McLeod turns 80 next month, and for her birthday, she hopes to be back home to celebrate in Cross Lake. “Hopefully,” she said, seated on a couch near the lobby of the Victoria Inn, her cellphone firmly in hand. McLeod is among the many Cross Lake evacuees currently staying at the airport-area hotel. The latest word among them is that American firefighters are being deployed to help fight the nearby blaze.

4 weeks ago | winnipegfreepress.com | Scott Billeck

Judith Moore was awakened by a Facebook call around 3 a.m. Friday with an urgent message from her mother: get out. “She told me to run to my sister’s next door with my grandsons,” she said Friday afternoon.

4 weeks ago | winnipegfreepress.com | Scott Billeck

Tents, tarps, and makeshift shelters line the beaten path along the Assiniboine River near Balmoral Street in West Broadway — a community hidden in plain sight. At first glance, the scene could be mistaken for a Manitoba summer festival: there are colourful tents, birds chirping overhead, and geese with their goslings feeding nearby. The natural beauty of the river view masks the harsh truth. The mattresses, shopping carts, broken glass, empty naloxone kits and food wrappers break the illusion.