
Housing evacuees may become more challenging as more are displaced by wildfires
Frustration is growing among those evacuated from their homes due to northern wildfires.
Weldon McCallum is the emergency evacuation coordinator for the Peter Ballantyne Cree Nation working with the Canadian Red Cross and the Saskatchewan Public Safety Agency (SPSA), but he says processing times to receive services from the Red Cross have been lengthy and some evacuees who were placed in hotels in Prince Albert and Saskatoon are being displaced once again.
“There were some scheduled events in the city and rooms secured with credit cards at the hotels, so evacuees in these hotels are being asked to check out because those rooms are booked by another person,” sad McCallum.
In Prince Albert, an annual softball tournament is expected to bring in more than 20 teams from across the province. A spokesperson for the tournament said plans were going ahead despite air quality affected by wildfire smoke.