‘Not even in the height of our wildfire season’ Risk rises with warmer days ahead; York Factory residents fly home: ‘our people are going through too much’ By: Nicole Buffie Posted: 11:22 AM CDT Thursday, Jun. 12, 2025 Last Modified: 9:13 PM CDT Thursday, Jun. 12, 2025 Updates

Manitoba officials are warning things are likely to get worse before they get better, as federal data predicts Canada will see its second-worst wildfire season on record.

Natural Resources Minister Ian Bushie cautioned that while recent rain brought some relief to fire-hit areas in Manitoba, there remains a long way to go.

“We’re not out of the wildfire season yet. Actually, I would almost hazard to say we’re not even in the height of our wildfire season yet,” Bushie said during a news conference Thursday afternoon.

Canada’s wildfire season — the second worst on record since 2023 — has seen 3.7 million hectares of land burn, six times the area of Prince Edward Island, Public Safety Canada said in a technical briefing Thursday.

The 10-year average is about 800,000 hectares.

After a brief period of cooler temperatures, the fire risk has returned across much of the province, said Kristin Hayward, assistant deputy minister of the Manitoba Wildfire Service.

As of Thursday afternoon, there were 21 active wildfires in Manitoba, with five considered out of control. There have been 116 fires to date, up from the average annual of 107 fires.

Hayward said as other provinces face similar fire threats and eventually begin sending personnel back home, Manitoba will look to augment its resources — including using civil servants — to fill roles to take some pressure off existing crews.

“We do have to be mindful of how we’re utilizing the resources,” she said.

The province currently has 229 firefighters from out of province, including those from the U.S., helping Manitoba crews.

There have not been any new fires in the last 24 hours, and no significant growth has been seen in any of the blazes recently, Hayward said.

The 5,000-hectare fire burning in Whiteshell Provincial Park and across the border into Ontario has been upgraded from out of control to being held, which means officials don’t believe the fire will spread further.

Residents from the community of Cranberry Portage were given the green light to go home beginning Saturday at 8 a.m., while planning is underway for evacuees to eventually return to Pimicikamak Cree Nation.

“We’re not out of the wildfire season yet. Actually, I would almost hazard to say we’re not even in the height of our wildfire season yet.”–Natural Resources Minister Ian Bushie

Pimicikamak (Cross Lake) incident commander David Finch said Wednesday fire crews are planning controlled burns to clean up vegetation around the community, and the Manitoba Fire Service predicts the blaze will slow in growth over the next 10 to 12 days.

The fire near the community was measured at 58,800 hectares at last count and remains out of control.

No return date has been set for evacuees.

Hayward said the province realizes evacuees are keen to return home, but safety is the first priority.

“We want to be confident that we have really good containment before we’re allowing folks back,” she said.

“I know on the ground, it can look like the situation is really improving over the last little while, but as we look ahead at the weather that’s coming, we want to be really certain that we have a good handle on things before people repatriate.”

It is up to local authorities to lift evacuation orders, Hayward said.

Meanwhile, the chief of a remote northern First Nation says he’s sending evacuees home to their smoke-filled community because they’re receiving abysmal treatment in Winnipeg and no help from the provincial or federal governments.

“We’ve just decided our people are going through too much here. We never got a response from the government,” York Factory First Nation Chief Darryl Wastesicoot said.

Wastesicoot said evacuees who were flown to Winnipeg have been moved between different hotels, haven’t received timely meals and feel unsafe in their accommodations.

“As we look ahead at the weather that’s coming, we want to be really certain that we have a good handle on things before people repatriate.”–Kristin Hayward

About 70 York Factory residents with medical conditions were flown to Winnipeg under a voluntary evacuation order on June 2 to escape heavy wildfire smoke from a nearby blaze.

The chief said many residents were placed in downtown hotels that were not family-friendly.

“The food in one hotel was bad. They didn’t cater to a lot of our members in terms of getting out food in a timely manner … this is a state of emergency, and our people have to keep moving,” he said.

A notice to York Factory residents posted on social media said evacuees were staying at the Alt Hotel, Viscount Gort Hotel and Hampton Inn Hotel near the airport.

The chief said he was working with the Canadian Red Cross to secure charter airplanes to send evacuees home beginning Thursday.

Wastesicoot said he reached out to the province and Indigenous Services Canada about the concerns but received no word back.

“We just decided we’re just going home,” he said.

“I had the opportunity to talk to Chief Wastesicoot yesterday and the day prior,” Premier Wab Kinew said late Thursday. “My heart really goes out to the frustration he’s feeling for his citizens. We’re trying to be good partners for him and all of the communities.”

York Factory resident Kayla Wastesicoot, 37, was in Winnipeg for eight days with her four children and was catching a 2 p.m. charter back home Thursday.

She stayed at Viscount Gort and said didn’t encounter any issues, but heard stories from others, including her friend’s daughter being threatened at the Alt Hotel on Donald Street.

“When I asked the province about it, they seemed just as confused as I was.”–Rob Sankar

Christine Stevens, assistant deputy minister for the Manitoba Emergency Management Organization, confirmed the Red Cross is coordinating flights home with York residents.

She said meals are co-ordinated under multiple arrangements, be it through the Red Cross or hotels, and evacuees are receiving three “adequate” meals a day.

Viscount Gort general manager Rob Sankar said feeding evacuees has been a bit of a logistical issue.

There’s been a disconnect between which evacuees are cleared to receive food service and those who aren’t, he said.

“They get the OK to come to the hotel, but we still need clearance from the Red Cross to give them food service,” Sankar said by phone Thursday. “That presents a barrier for us. So, about a week ago, we just said we were going to feed everyone and send the bill to the Red Cross later.”

Sankar estimates the hotel is hosting 200 evacuees, with some from York Factory.

Meals available to evacuees include a breakfast and lunch buffet, and dinner service from the hotel’s menu.

When the hotel hosted fire evacuees last year, room and board was organized by one department. This year, it’s split between a federal department for hotels and a provincial department for food, Sankar said.

“When I asked the province about it, they seemed just as confused as I was,” he said.

A Red Cross spokesperson encouraged everyone impacted by evacuations due to wildfires to register with the organization.

“Once registered, individuals and households are provided with supports and services that have been requested by community leadership and Indigenous Services Canada,” Heather Hogan said in an email.

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Indigenous Services Canada spokesperson Carolane Gratton did not respond to questions about Wastesicoot’s comments, and instead said in a statement the government department continues to support evacuees through its emergency management assistance program.

Residents returning home to York Factory will have to spend money to retrofit their homes to better ventilate wildfire smoke, Wastesicoot said.

The wildfire near Split Lake that is affecting York Factory residents is more than 21,000 hectares. It remains out of control.

— with files from The Canadian Press and Massimo De Luca-Taronno

nicole.buffie@freepress.mb.ca

Nicole Buffie
Multimedia producer

Nicole Buffie is a reporter for the Free Press city desk. Born and bred in Winnipeg, Nicole graduated from Red River College’s Creative Communications program in 2020 and worked as a reporter throughout Manitoba before joining the Free Press newsroom as a multimedia producer in 2023. Read more about Nicole.

Every piece of reporting Nicole 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.