NDP MP calling for more support for Manitoba’s wildfire evacuees

NDP Member of Parliament Leah Gazan, speaking Tuesday evening in the House of Commons, called for more federal support for wildfire evacuees in Manitoba.

“There has been a failure to properly consult with Indigenous peoples that is resulting in treaty and charter rights being violated,” said Gazan.

Gazan says the federal response to ongoing wildfires in Manitoba is inadequate, saying families need access to housing and holistic health services immediately. But long-term, Gazan says a plan needs to be put in place for families who won’t have a home to go back to.

Gazan is calling for the federal government to acknowledge that the increase in wildfires has become the ‘new normal’, and it needs to take both preventative measures and immediate measures.

“This means, Mr. Speaker, enforcing and supporting emergency measures for evacuees and fulfilling its legal obligations rather than passing off responsibility to provinces and territories and delaying action in response times due to just, jurisdictional bantering,” said Gazan during a legislative session.

The Minister of Emergency Management and Community Resilience, Eleanor Olszewski, says the federal government acted immediately to assist Manitoba, and it’s meeting every day with the province, Indigenous communities, and humanitarian organizations.