Pimicikamak Cree Nation wildfire evacuees to sleep in warm beds at Ontario hotel Sunday

Dozens of wildfire evacuees from Pimicikamak Cree Nation checked into a hotel in Niagara Falls, Ont., on Sunday after days spent without sleep in a Winnipeg evacuation centre. 

On Saturday, First Nations leaders from across Manitoba called on the federal, provincial and Winnipeg municipal governments to direct city hotels to make space for community members being displaced by more than two dozen wildfires burning across the province. 

The Manitoba government declared a provincial state of emergency on Wednesday, with more than 17,000 evacuees expected to be fleeing wildfires in northern Manitoba. 

Pimicikimak Cree Nation was placed under an emergency evacuation order and thousands were forced to leave home as a wildfire burned out of control near the First Nation. 

As of Sunday afternoon, that fire was 3,300 hectares in size, according to the most recent fire bulletin from the province. 

Community members from Pimicikamak, also known as Cross Lake, were first sent to Norway House Cree Nation, which has been under an evacuation notice since Wednesday. Residents there were told to prepare for evacuation but have not been ordered to leave.

From there, Pimicikamak evacuees were sent to an evacuation centre set up at a soccer complex in north Winnipeg. 

Sheena Garrick, who works with Jordan's Principle for Pimicikamak Cree Nation, said conditions at the Winnipeg Soccer Federation North facility are "horrible". 

"Everybody's crying, moms are crying, their kids, they want to go home. It's very heartbreaking," she said, adding the crying has been keeping tired evacuees awake.

When the First Nation had the opportunity to send its citizens to a hotel in Niagara Falls, Garrick worked overnight on Saturday to organize a group of 47 people to fill a plane. 

The evacuees landed in Hamilton on Sunday morning and each had a comfortable place to sleep that night, Garrick said. 

"There was so much relief. Everybody was smiling. Everybody was so happy coming here to a warm meal, knowing they're gonna have a warm bed," she said.

Denny Scott, an officer with Jordan's Principal, said the Pimicikamak evacuees finally had a chance to rest since they were first ordered to leave the First Nation on Wednesday. 

"But Cross Lake is coming together as one and we're together as one," Scott said.  

Garrick said her phone has been blowing up with questions from community members about when the next plane is going to leave from Winnipeg.

On Sunday, she said two more planes carrying 119 people each were expected to arrive in Ontario. 

"The chaos that's going on in Winnipeg right now, it's nothing like that. You're going to come here, you're going to be happy. You're going to be comfortable," she said.