Pimicikamak Cree Nation says it's stuck footing bill to feed 800 wildfire evacuees in Winnipeg

Edgar Spence keeps a folded bundle of receipts for meal expenses his family has had to cover out-of-pocket since they were forced out of their home community by wildfires in northern Manitoba.

Since leaving Pimicikamak Cree Nation, he has moved to three different hotels in Winnipeg, and at each, he has had to cover costs for food most of the time, except for some nights when his accommodations have provided meals. 

"We've been pretty much feeding ourselves," Spence said. "We come here as a family, and we get together and plan things out so we don't run short of food for our kids and our grandkids."

So far, 21,000 people forced from their homes by wildfires in Manitoba in recent weeks have registered with the Canadian Red Cross.

Accommodations for evacuees arranged with the Red Cross include meals.

But with Winnipeg hotels at capacity, some evacuees are staying in campgrounds or private accommodations in the city, Pimicikamak officials say.

Chief David Monias said the Red Cross has started assuming the costs for those who are not staying in hotels arranged with the organization, but that response has been slow, leaving Pimicikamak to cover the costs in the meantime.

"We were the ones having to pay for all that stuff," he said. "Having that help from the government and also the organizations is really crucial at this point in time." 

Ryan Castel, the incident commander for Pimicikamak, said the option for a number of evacuees is to pay out of pocket for their own food, but some are skipping meals because they can't afford them. 

"Some of our people are starving," he said. 

In some cases where meals are covered at accommodations, the selection is limited, especially given a number of options contain spices most members of the community are not used to, so they refrain from eating, said Castel.

Pimicikamak has been trying to get food to evacuees, footing the bill for a catering company to distribute meals for roughly 800 people, including Spence's family. 

Some residents of the First Nation, about 530 kilometres north of Winnipeg, have also been taken out of shelters and put into hotel rooms being paid for by the community, Castel said. 

Even with the catering, Pimicikamak is struggling to ensure everyone has a meal, with evacuees scattered throughout the city, including at 19 hotels.