I wake up this morning to a wall of smoke. What next? And we have the provincial government’s non-existent response to the whole wildfire situation, including evacuation!
The whole evacuation across the North has been a disaster for many. People stranded in cars in many areas, no place to go.
People having trouble. Paying for food in communities not their own, was also a problem.
As I travelled south to where my husband was, I received a phone call from Red Cross.
“We’re not helping people from La Ronge,” the woman said and hung up.
So many homes lost and apparently there is no definite plan to rebuild in sight as yet.
At least I hear that from Denare Beach which, I understand, lost half, to three-quarters, of the homes and infrastructure!
After I was home from the evacuation, some things started to happen. I get emails from someone in the provincial government, which, when opened have different email addresses; not mine. It was addressed to me and came to my email!
Then an email to recall that one, two actually, then another one came later, which I missed at the time. I had determined the first three emails were a scam of some sort. This email had undisclosed email addresses visible in the cc. area. I click on that and could read all the email addresses, including mine.
Then there was a call from Social Services which caused me some concern, but it was about going to pick up a cheque.
Luckily I registered with the Saskatchewan Public Safety Agency (SPSA) way back when I saw something on Facebook.
It did get mixed up for a while, because there was no emergency at the time. But, that did get straightened out.
People were sent all over the province, and beyond. I did hear, but haven’t checked it out, the people were even evacuated as far as way as Niagara Falls, Ont.
It’s very hard and lonely to be evacuated out of your community. People you encounter, while they try to be kind, don’t have any idea what you are going through.
The thoughts that you might not have a home to return to, or any other number of fears.
I realized in 2017, when I was going to Victoria, I was panicked. I didn’t know what was happening. I finally realized I was afraid I would not get home again. It was a very real fear and a surprise to me at the same time.
There was nothing in place to assist people at the time of evacuation this year. No request for resources from the Federal government by the provincial government, so northern Saskatchewan didn’t get the resources needed to save people’s homes and our forest.
We do have to be grateful that there was no loss of life in our communities. From some of the scenes I saw, that’s miraculous!
Some amazing work was done by people in their own communities and those who came to help and support and we’re grateful.
But questions need to be asked and something needs to be done about the response of the Saskatchewan provincial government.
As one is home longer, the situation becomes more concerning, which is a topic for another column down the road a way.
One has serious concerns about whether this provincial government is operational at all; or not!
Valerie G. Barnes Connell Jordan is a journalist who lives and works in La Ronge. This is her sixth column in a series about being evacuated during the 2025 wildfire season.
