Back to school — away from home

Six-year-old Raylynn Mercer spent much of his summer break bicycling around hotel parking lots and cuddling with his Chihuahua, Princess.

“He’s a trooper,” Irene Mercer said as she reflected on the abrupt end of her son’s first school year and uncertainty surrounding his entry into Grade 1.

“Due to fires, they weren’t allowed to celebrate the end of kindergarten. He was very crushed.”

The Mercers and others from Mathias Colomb Cree Nation, also known as Pukatawagan, were forced to flee south about 100 days ago.

The 2025 wildfire season is the worst on record in 30 years. More than two million hectares of Manitoba have burned and while most fires are out or under control, widespread infrastructure damage is delaying homecomings.

As a result, Raylynn is one of hundreds of children who are unable to return home for the first day of the new school year.

His mother said she’s determined to enrol him in a classroom, be it at a satellite campus set up by Sakastew School administration at Mathias Colomb or a public school in Winnipeg, so he doesn’t miss out on academics and socializing.

Evacuees from Pukatawagan staying in Winnipeg were still awaiting details from their education authority on Friday afternoon. Their peers in Niagara Falls are expected to attend a temporary classroom being set up in nearby Grimsby, Ont., and run by school staff who are also stranded in the region.

Manitoba Education sent a letter to parents and guardians of evacuated children in mid-August to inform them of their options for a nontraditional back-to-school season.

“We want to ensure that every child displaced by wildfires has the opportunity to attend school this September — no matter where they are currently staying,” Brian O’Leary, now-former deputy minister of education, wrote in an Aug. 19 memo.

O’Leary acknowledged how “incredibly challenging” this summer has been for many families.

His office shared tips on registering at the nearest public school for free and eligibility; children between the ages of five and 21 have the right to attend classes this fall until they graduate.

The bulk of the remaining evacuees are in staying in hotels in Winnipeg’s downtown and St. James neighbourhoods, as well as Brandon, The Pas and Niagara Falls.

These visitors hail from Pukatawagan, Leaf Rapids, South Indian Lake (O-Pipon-Na-Piwin Cree Nation) and Lynn Lake (Marcel Colomb First Nation) in northern Manitoba.

One week before welcoming students back, the St. James-Assiniboia School Division — whose borders encompass hotels near the airport — had yet to register an evacuee.

“We’re waiting with open arms and we will pull together and do the very best we can to support our families when they do arrive,” assistant superintendent Jordana Buckwold said.

Buckwold said her colleagues are in frequent contact with provincial government officials and the Canadian Red Cross.

They anticipate school buses will be dispatched to hotels and students will be sent to the nearest classroom with space, she said.

Inclusion support services director Potoula Locken drew a comparison to the St. James-Assiniboia division’s emergency response when there was an influx of Syrian refugees a decade ago.

In this case, divisional co-ordinators and support staff will visit hotels to provide social-emotional support where needed, Locken said.

Frontier School Division administration said 450 students from its communities across northern Manitoba are still displaced, owing to burnt electrical poles and other infrastructure.

The division temporarily increased capacity at its high school campus in Cranberry Portage so displaced teens can begin their studies right away.

Manitoba Hydro estimates power will be restored in all affected towns and First Nations by mid-October.

There were approximately 1,400 customers who lost power due to the fires, while about 1,100 structures were damaged, the Crown corporation said in its latest report.

“This back-to-school thing caused a big uproar. Everyone wants to know, ‘What are the kids going to do?’” said Elly Dumas, an evacuee with four school-aged children living at the Victoria Inn near the Winnipeg airport.

The 54 year old said she and her children are hesitant to sign up at a city public school due to all the unknowns, including the risk of bullying.

There are so many logistics to sort out, from lunches to transportation, she added. In Pukatawagan, students bus home for lunch on a daily basis.

Dumas said the happy and excited feelings usually associated with a new school year are missing in 2025.

Typically, the family travels to Winnipeg or another urban centre over the Labour Day weekend to shop for school supplies.

They have been moved to four different hotels in Winnipeg over the last three months. “It’s stressful. It’s sad. My kids are freaked out,” Dumas said.

Sharyce Colomb, a mother of an infant and two elementary schoolers, echoed those comments.

Colomb, 28, said she’s tried to entertain them by taking them swimming in their hotel pool, but her eight-year-old has been crying “a lot” due to homesickness.

“They want to go back to school. They’ve been bugging me,” she said, adding that she does not want her Grade 2 or 3 students to start the year at a new school in Winnipeg. “I don’t trust it — the racism.”

Superintendent Mathew Gustafson said the Brandon School Division is taking its lead from affected families and community leaders.

Gustafson acknowledged displaced caregivers and children may feel anxious about safety risks and being thrown into another unfamiliar space.

The division is ready for a range of scenarios, such as reassigning substitute teachers, activating spare buses and dropping books and other materials at hotels, he said.

“These are people who are in our communities so they’re our students and we have the same obligation and desire to support (them) as anybody who moves into our community,” added Gustafson, who oversees the education of nearly 10,000 students in western Manitoba.

Charles Cochrane, who oversees the First Nations school system, said all 13 of his campuses are expected to start on time and as usual.

He said staff will need to consider the added social and emotional needs of students who had to flee their homes in recent months. At the same time, Cochrane said this back-to-school season won’t be all that different from previous ones.

“Our people have been very resilient,” he added.

maggie.macintosh@freepress.mb.ca