The World This Hour - The World This Hour for 2025/08/31 at 02:00 EDT

Episode Date: August 31, 2025

The World This Hour for 2025/08/31 at 02:00 EDT

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I'm Neil Kumar. First it was the prairies, then it was Atlantic Canada. Now wildfires are leading to the evacuation orders in the north. The small community of Wattie Northwest Territories is almost empty as flames threaten the community. Bonita Taylor has the latest. Smoky, smelly, you can breathe. Josephine Bishop describes the conditions in Wattie before fleeing the community. Big huge fire.

It's scary. Bishop was on one of three busloads of evacuees, driven 163 kilometers to Benchocon, where a temporary evacuation center was set up with cots, water, towels, and food. A stopover for those en route to Yellowknife because the city needed time to prepare. Fire officials say the wildfire is about 8 kilometers from Wattie. They've been keeping a close watch since it started burning one month ago. This is the first evacuation order in the terrorist. this summer. Fire officials say it is unusually late in the year, with the fire season

not being over yet. Juanita Taylor's CBC News, Yellowknife. Solar power has come to Canada's northernmost communities, thanks to a company based in this country's most southern city. But as T.J. Deere tells us, there are limits as to how much power can be supplied. Power in Nunavut largely comes from diesel fuel. Depending on where the community is, sea lift deliveries may only happen once a year, but a company from Windsor, Ontario is working to lower the territory's reliance on diesel. Green Sun Rising has installed solar panels in four communities in Nunavut's high Arctic. It was made possible through a program run by the Kulik Energy Corporation, known as QEC, which is the territory's power supplier.

One of the four communities in Nunavut where panels are now installed is the northernmost in the country, Greece Fjord. But the Hamlet says QEC limits how much power can be used. David General is Grease Fjord's senior administrative officer. He says it's disappointing that they can't take full advantage of their system. A lot of money was invested by the feds in the system,

but also we invested a lot of time and every project takes administrative work. T.J. Deere, CBC News, Akhaloui. Many Canadian farmers have been contending with trout and smoky skies. Now farmers in central Manitoba are contending with too much rain. The area

saw 100 millimeters of rain overnight. August 20th into the 21st. Pools of water, more than a foot deep, are swalling up rows of crops on Carl Stewart's farm near Poplar Point. He says he's delayed harvesting by about a week at a time when every second counts. It's the edge of the field. It's not out in the middle, but just getting equipment in and out, and then, yeah, we are going to have to leave some acres behind. And unfortunately, those acres are the ones that go to the bank, not to our creditors, unfortunately. Stewart has started combining stretches of his almost 6,000. acre fields of wheat, canola, and soybeans. But he says, some crops will be left on the field.

The first day of school is just around the corner. And for dozens of First Nations teenagers in Northern Ontario, that means moving to a new city hundreds of kilometers away from home. Sarah Law reports from Thunder Bay. Dennis Franklin Cromarty, or DFC, is Thunder Bay's all-Indigenous high school. Many First Nations in Northern Ontario do not have high schools, leaving students and families to choose between dropping out or going to school. hundreds of kilometers away. It's a particularly vulnerable age.

Volunteer Melissa Blackwell says it's important to consider the mental health toll that comes from leaving home at such a young age. According to statistics, Canada, just under two-thirds of First Nations youth have high school diplomas compared to 91% of their non-Indigenous peers. As the school's First Nation student success program coordinator, Sean Spenrath sees the obstacles they face firsthand. Leaving your family, I couldn't imagine,

that at 13 years old, and going to a strange place he's kind of never really been. About 160 students are expected to arrive in the coming days, many who have never lived in a city. Sarah Law, CBC News, Thunder Bay, Ontario. And that is the world this hour. For CBC News, I'm Neil Kumar. Thank you.