Manitobans likely to see higher premiums, limited insurance options after devastating wildfire season: expert

Manitobans should expect higher cabin and home insurance premiums in 2026, one expert says, after a 2025 fire season that destroyed at least 130 properties in the province and forced more than 32,000 people to leave their communities.

Owners may also encounter new caps on payouts or exclusions in their policies that won’t cover certain hazards or parts of a property, or may find insurers will not provide coverage at all, said Jason Thistlethwaite, an assistant professor at the University of Waterloo's school of environment, enterprise and development.

"Insurance is a business, and they’re going to be looking to recoup those losses," said Thistlethwaite, who studies the economic impacts of climate risk and natural disasters.

Liane Ross-Martin and her husband, Ed Martin, lost their family cabin in the rural municipality of Lac du Bonnet in a fast-moving wildfire last May. Their Wendigo Road cabin was among 28 properties destroyed along that stretch in the RM, northeast of Winnipeg.

More than seven months later, the couple say they’ve had to deal with limited insurance options and about $1,400 more in annual premiums, while also navigating the prospect of rebuilding —experiences Ross-Martin described as "excruciating."

They had enough insurance "to rebuild, for sure, but not to replace," she said last week.

"Everything was gone, so we didn't have enough in our contents insurance to replace, and we didn't have enough to cover our garage."

That compelled the couple to shop around for more comprehensive insurance, but they discovered many providers weren’t interested in taking them on due to the complete loss of their cottage and the recent wildfires.

"I went through one, two, three, four, five places until I finally got somebody who would sit down with me," Ross-Martin said.

The pair built their cabin in 2019, and they say the estimated cost to rebuild now is about 50 per cent more.

That's part of the reason their maximum insured value wasn’t enough, something they believe their insurance company should have warned them about.

"We just renewed every year without really looking at the details," Martin said.

They said they’re speaking out now to encourage others to ask questions about their policies and prepare for a complete loss of their property.

Canada experienced more than $2 billion in insured damages in 2025, according to the Insurance Bureau of Canada.