The Current - ‘It is traumatizing’ First Nations communities flee fires

Episode Date: May 30, 2025

The wildfire season is in full effect, and it’s only May. Saskatchewan and Manitoba are in a state of emergency as wildfires burn across the provinces. Thousands of people have evacuated their homes, and many are still finding ways to get out of the fire’s way. First Nations leaders Peter Beatty, Chief of Peter Ballantyne Cree Nation in Saskatchewan and David Monias, Chief of the Pimicikamak Cree Nation in northern Manitoba explain how they are moving their communities out of danger when many exits are closed — and what worries they have for this wildfire season.

We're all looking for great places to visit in Canada. One of my favorites is the Stratford Festival. The theatre is truly of the highest caliber and there's so much selection. They have 11 large-scale shows on stage and trust me, whatever is on manure there will be exceptional. People always think Shakespeare when they think of Stratford, but it's so much more. Broadway musicals, family shows, classic comedy and drama. Whether it's Robert LaPage's Macbeth or Donna Fiora's Annie, you will be blown away.

It's the perfect Canadian getaway. To quote William Shatner, who got his start in Stratford, every Canadian should make the pilgrimage to Stratford. Start your next adventure at StratfordFestival.ca. This is a CBC Podcast. Hello, I'm Matt Galloway and this is The Current Podcast. Wildfire season is in full flight. There is an out of control wildfire that is near Churchill Falls in Labrador. In the meantime, there are also dozens of out of control wildfires burning in parts of Western Canada right now. The flames are raging across the prairies and force thousands of people to flee their homes. Yesterday, the premier of Saskatchewan, Scott Moe declared a state of

emergency in that province. Comes the day after Manitoba's Premier, Wab Kanu, did the same in that province. Peter Beattie is the Chief of the Peter Ballantyne Cree Nation in Saskatchewan. He's a Prince Albert this morning. Chief Beattie, good morning. Peter Beattie Good morning, Matt. Matt What's happening in your community right now? Peter Beattie Right now, the community of Pelican Arrows is the one that is an immediate fire threat and has been for a week.

We have evacuated most of our residents from Pelican Arrows, which the population is around, you know, off and on reserve would be about 4,000 people. So well over 3,000 have been evacuated. We do have essential services people there, including the firefighters, some volunteers as well from one of our community, one of the communities just north of Saskatoon, one of the communities just north of Saskatoon at warm in Saskatchewan has a

as a volunteer fire department working in Pelican arrows as well. So, you know, they're structural firefighters, so they're protecting the the buildings there. How close is the fire? Can you see it right from the community? You can see it right from the community. I wasn't in the community, but I've been sent pictures of it. So it has burned right to the edge of the community. So it's very close,

but they're managing to hold it right now. What's it been like trying to get people out? We've heard in Manitoba, for example, of roads being blocked because of fire and smoke and it's difficult to get to airports, for example. What about for you? Yeah, the roads have been compromised. They've been shut down since we started the evacuation, thanks to the Department of Highways who have been escorting vehicles through the affected areas, we've been able to get our people out to the urban centers in down south here in Saskatchewan. So it's

been very difficult. Some of our communities as well have been cut off because you can't really travel out now because of the situation with the wildfires being very volatile and things change from hour to hour and roads get closed. You never know when a road is closed. So there's three major communities of ours that are cut off from being able to get out. Sandy Bay, Saskatchewan, Deschambeau Lake, and South End Reindeer Lake, which is north of Lac-Lorange. That's a big disruption for people to leave the community and head, as you said, down south into the cities. What do we need to think about when people are, obviously they're being moved to safety, but as I said,

it's a big change in someone's life. Yes, absolutely. When people are displaced, it's very difficult for them to quickly adapt to urban life, especially for our elders and our smaller children that find it very difficult to adapt. It is traumatizing, and I think that people have to understand that when people are displaced, you know, it's a shock. And some, they're very confused as well. And I think that we need to, I think, take that into consideration when we're putting them up wherever we can find hotel rooms and working with different agencies, including the Red Cross, the Prince Albert Grand Council, the city of Prince Albert and the city of Saskatoon for the most part.

We've been able to house a lot of them in hotel rooms. So we continue to look for accommodations and sometimes, you know, it's really hectic because some of those hotel rooms are not available for more than five days or whatever. And so, we have to move people from hotel to hotel, which is another big problem. But we're managing at the moment, but things are very difficult for our workers as well. Just very briefly, what do you need from the province and the federal government? Well, from the province we need some support in terms of getting, I think the messaging out there that, you know, people should understand that our people, a lot of them are not used to being in urban areas, so they should give them a little bit of leeway. And as well in terms of helping us find accommodations in

hotels, you know, that would be great as well. I know we met with Premier Scott Moll yesterday and we thank him for that opportunity at Prince Albert Grand Council, Grand Chief Brian Hardlott and some of our other staff that are there. And you know, and for declaring the state of emergency for the province of Saskatchewan as well. We had declared a state of emergency for our three woodland Cree nations, Montreal, Lake and Lac-Lorange and Peter Ballantyne the day before. I really, it's a lot going on, so I appreciate you taking some time to talk to us.

And I wish you the very best. Take care of yourself as well. Chief, thank you. Thank you, Matt. It's Chief Peter Beattie of the Peter Ballantyne Cree Nation in Saskatchewan. In Manitoba, people in remote and indigenous communities are also trying to flee from fires. Last Friday, the chief of the Pemisikimic Cree Nation in northern Manitoba declared a state of emergency for his people days before the province did.

Wednesday the chief issued a full evacuation order, however, leaving that community has also been harrowing. Flights from the local airport were cancelled, roads out were gridlocked. Chief David Monius is with me now. Chief good morning to you. Good morning. Tell me how things are going in trying to get people out of your community in the face of danger.

It's been very difficult in trying to get out. Right now we have evacuated a lot of people to our neighboring communities about an hour away. It's called Norah Hills, Queen Asian. We've been very lucky to have that nation welcome our people and try and set up some kind of comfort by allowing them to stay in their arenas and gymnasiums as well as building some people. But it came with some problems where we had to, in order to access that community, which is at the end of Highway 373, where it's, with there's a ferry that had to go through.

And then it was like almost like, uh, nine, 10 hours of waiting just to get across. You were asked about the response from the provincial and federal governments. And one of the things that you said was shame on Canada. Tell me why you said that. One of the reasons why I said that was that

because we are experiencing a lot of problems where things were moving slow. As we were getting things done, and I called for the Canadian Armed Forces, I also called for additional resources to come into water bomb maybe the road, so the way they did in the Flint-Flown area for Highway Number 10 for that residence and allow them to have passports by road out of that community, but they weren't doing the same thing for us. And I was told by the ministers that were being put in place, they said, oh, we don't

have office staff right now. Well, I'm not worried about office staff, political office staff. They have an impurity system that could help us. All they had to do was redirect me to the appropriate people, get the Guinean Armed Forces into our community, and start using the Hercules. The Guinean Armed Forces were ready to come and get us, but they had to wait for authority to be given that. And Canada who has a responsibility, FIDUSA responsibility towards us and we have a relationship, a treaty with them to take care of us. And we asked for that. And what did they do? They circumvented their responsibilities and said, listen, you

got to get the problems to exhaust all the resources first. I said, well, but we did call Wapken on that, thank God for him. To the Premier. And he did, yeah, the Premier. He did call the State of Emergency, which helped us out, and there was a province-wide alert that says, State of Emergency for Premi Sikamak. And then he reached out to the Prime Minister ministers that they need the Canadian Armed Forces. That triggered the negotiations to get the regulation to our communities.

And well, not in our community, but in two Nor'ehos where most of our people are now. We still have about a thousand people left in the cross-strait. How worried are you? I mean, it's only the end of May, and it feels like this fire season is early. How worried are you? I mean, it's only the end of May and it feels like this fire season is early. How worried are you that folks, for example, in Norway House could also be in the path of this fire? Well, yeah, exactly. I'm very worried and that's why I'm trying to get our people.

And if you think about it, right, between us we have about 20,000 people and I send most of the monetary of my people to Norway House and we have about 1,000 people. I send most of the mandatory people to Nori House and we have about 1,000 people here. The smoke was starting to go towards that way. The winds are very unpredictable. This is a fire. This fire is ranked 6, which is the highest category you can have. It swirls, little mini tornadoes, and then spills out fireballs in front of it. So it's jumping from island to island and that's what's scary about it. Yesterday, last night I should say, it was, to show you how big it was, it was down Highway 374 from starting from Managua River.

It was like 50 kilometres long around the highway, burning on both sides of that highway. It's huge and it's coming towards us. And right now the winds were in our favor yesterday. We have clear skies, oh my God, it was good to be able to breathe. And it was blowing it away. And which was good for us, but it was still so hot

that it was still moving and shooting towards us. Despite the winds being against it. That's scary stuff. I wish you the best of luck, and I know you got a lot going on, so I appreciate you taking some time to talk to us, Chief. Thank you very much. Thank you for having me.

Thank you. All the best. Chief David Monius is from the Pemisikamik Cree Nation in Manitoba. This has been The Current Podcast. You can hear our show Monday to Friday on CBC Radio 1 Manitoba.