Ottawa, Manitoba to match wildfire donations to Red Cross

The federal government has promised to match donations to the Canadian Red Cross for wildfire efforts in Manitoba.

Donations to the Red Cross wildfire relief efforts in Manitoba and Saskatchewan will be matched by both the federal and provincial governments, Eleanor Olszewski, the minister of emergency management and community resilience, told reporters Tuesday.

Those efforts include providing accommodation and support services for people displaced by wildfires.

“This wildfire season has started off more quickly, and it’s stronger, more intense than in previous years. We can’t thank enough all the firefighters, humanitarian workers and community leaders who are stepping up to keep their neighbours and their communities safe,” she said.

Olszewski said Ottawa will provide additional relief for people affected by wildfires.

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“There’s a number of different kinds of funding mechanisms that can be employed to help people who are dealing with… this tragic loss of their homes in their communities,” she said.

Donations can be made on the Red Cross website or by phone at 1-800-418-1111.

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.