Hotel space in Winnipeg tight as number of evacuees rises

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The provincial government has warned it has to consider temporary congregate shelters for wildfire evacuees because hotel space is limited.

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The provincial government has warned it has to consider temporary congregate shelters for wildfire evacuees because hotel space is limited.

Leaf Rapids residents were ordered to leave by 10 a.m. Tuesday, while Thompson residents are on alert to evacuate.

New evacuees are being asked to travel to Winnipeg while authorities find hotel rooms for people as quickly as possible, a provincial spokesperson said Tuesday.

MIKAELA MACKENZIE / FREE PRESS FILES
                                The soccer complex on Leila Avenue, which was used as a shelter when Flin Flon was evacuated, reopened as a reception centre on Tuesday, and may be used as a shelter if needed.

MIKAELA MACKENZIE / FREE PRESS FILES

The soccer complex on Leila Avenue, which was used as a shelter when Flin Flon was evacuated, reopened as a reception centre on Tuesday, and may be used as a shelter if needed.

“With over 6,600 Manitobans currently evacuated, and more priority 1 residents (people with the most serious health concerns) evacuating, available hotel space is limited,” the spokesperson said in an email.

“Congregate shelters may be needed to provide temporary shelter while work continues to quickly move people into hotel rooms.”

The soccer complex on Leila Avenue, which was used as a shelter when Flin Flon was evacuated, reopened as a reception centre Tuesday, and may be used as a shelter if needed.

Manitoba Hotel Association president Michael Juce said that while the summer is typically busy for hotels, some in large urban markets have more availability than usual because there are fewer conferences and business events.

There are around 15,000 hotel rooms in Manitoba, with about 70 per cent occupied at any given time. Juce said it’s difficult to say if there would be enough hotel rooms for evacuees, even if operators free up as many rooms as possible.

“Some trips can be delayed, but there’s some folks who are in hotels, who are staying for medical reasons, for example, and that makes things obviously complex as well,” he said.

Last month, Premier Wab Kinew suggested the province could use emergency powers to require “a small, small minority” of hotel owners that had not made rooms available for evacuees to do so.

“I know hotels will do their best to accommodate people for whatever reason they’re staying,” Juce said.

“Congregate shelters may be needed to provide temporary shelter while work continues to quickly move people into hotel rooms.”–Provincial spokesperson

Thompson was preparing for a possible evacuation, although a fire north of the city did not pose an immediate threat Tuesday.

Mayor Colleen Smook said evacuees would likely have to be sent outside the province if Thompson was evacuated. The city is the largest in northern Manitoba, and a regional service hub.

“If Thompson goes down, you’re not just moving 15,000 people. You’re taking away essential services for 70,000 people in the north,” Smook said. “Manitoba has no room for us. Winnipeg is full, Brandon is full.

“We’d be talking about (hotel rooms in) other provinces and maybe the United States.”

Nisichawayasihk Cree Nation (Nelson House) is asking the federal and provincial governments, and the Canadian Red Cross to help co-ordinate an evacuation involving more than 300 high-priority residents, including people with medical conditions, infants and elders.

Chief Angela Levasseur said NCN was told “there are no hotel rooms” for evacuees from her community.

NCN does not want its members to be lodged in congregate shelters, a news release said.

Provincial staff were looking at hotel options within and outside Manitoba in case at least parts of Thompson have to evacuate, Christine Stevens, assistant deputy minister of the Manitoba Emergency Management Organization, said Monday.

“If Thompson goes down, you’re not just moving 15,000 people.”–Thompson Mayor Colleen Smook

Pimicikamak Cree Nation Chief David Monias announced a voluntary evacuation for the entire community Monday due to several wildfires in the area.

Voluntary evacuees would have to arrange their own accommodations because hotel rooms are “currently full,” or stay at the Leila Avenue congregate shelter, if available, he wrote in a Facebook post.

He said 60 hotel rooms were available for medically vulnerable evacuees, who’ve been flown to Winnipeg.

— With files from Chris Kitching

malak.abas@freepress.mb.ca

Malak Abas

Malak Abas
Reporter

Malak Abas is a city reporter at the Free Press. Born and raised in Winnipeg’s North End, she led the campus paper at the University of Manitoba before joining the Free Press in 2020. Read more about Malak.

Every piece of reporting Malak produces is reviewed by an editing team before it is posted online or published in print — part of the Free Press‘s tradition, since 1872, of producing reliable independent journalism. Read more about Free Press’s history and mandate, and learn how our newsroom operates.

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