Wildfire Evacuees and Asylum Seekers Strain Niagara Falls’ Housing Capacity During Tourism Season

NIAGARA FALLS, Ontario—Geoffrey Ross is no stranger to wildfire evacuations. But in late May, when the flames of one of the conflagrations that have plagued Manitoba closed in on his family’s land near Jenpeg, Manitoba, for the third time in recent years, the father of two knew this would be different.

Ross, a member of the Pimicikamak Cree Nation, said he could see smoke rising above the trees for days before authorities ordered families to leave at the end of May.

“At the beginning of the fires, we could see them from a distance, even though they were about 15 to 20 kilometers [9 to 12 miles] away from town,” Ross said. “But they moved so rapidly within days that it got so close.”

Now, Ross and his two sons, ages 5 and 6, are staying at a hotel in Niagara Falls, Ontario, as part of a wave of evacuations affecting thousands from Northern Manitoba, including many from remote First Nations communities such as the Pimicikamak Cree. The evacuees’ destination was chosen by federal and provincial officials as part of a coordinated response to the fires.

The arrival of wildfire evacuees has added pressure to a city already housing about 1,500 asylum seekers who began arriving in 2022, the majority from Nigeria, Venezuela, Kenya, Turkey and Colombia, many of whom are still living in hotels near the tourist district. With summer tourism season in full swing and more evacuations possible as fires continue to burn, Niagara Falls is struggling to manage overlapping crises that are straining housing, food services and medical support. Niagara Falls Mayor Jim Diodati has even suggested using dormitories at the local colleges and universities to relieve hotel demand.

“We’ve got some capacity in the pipeline to help out and do our part,” Diodati said. “We’re happy that we’re able to do that.”

Still, Diodati said the evacuees arrived just as the city approached its peak tourism season. Niagara Falls is now hosting about 1,500 wildfire evacuees, roughly the same number as the remaining asylum seekers. Coordinating the influxes has been difficult, he said, in part because the city hasn’t been involved in the national government’s decisions about where evacuees are sent.

“It’s very frustrating because we’re the ones that are going to carry the load, and we’re not part of the discussion,” he said, describing how federal officials handled both the relocation of asylum seekers and wildfire evacuees.

A spokesperson for Indigenous Services Canada said the department is supporting wildfire evacuee coordination in partnership with provincial and First Nations authorities.

“After engagement between provincial, federal and First Nation partners, XPera Risk Mitigation and Investigation was activated to support the hosting of Manitoba wildfire evacuees in Ontario,” the agency said in a statement to Inside Climate News.

ISC referred questions about how hotel sites were selected or whether host communities were consulted to the province of Ontario.

Neither Xpera nor the Emergency Preparedness and Response team for Ontario responded to requests for comment. 

The city’s large hotel capacity and distance from the fire zones were both factors in its selection, Diodati said. He added that in the case of asylum-seeker placements, Canadian leaders in Ottawa bypassed municipal officials and relied on a third party to find housing for the migrants, the same approach now being used for wildfire evacuees.

“Just like with the asylum seekers, they didn’t dialogue with us,” Diodati said. Instead, the government used a logistics company, and “they dealt directly with the hotel operators,” he said.

According to Manitoba officials, about 21,000 people registered as evacuees in June, including nearly 6,700 from the Pimicikamak Cree Nation. The Canadian Armed Forces airlifted residents from remote communities where fires cut off road access.

“This is the largest evacuation Manitoba will have seen in most people’s living memory,” Manitoba Premier Wab Kinew said during a news conference.

The province lifted its state of emergency on June 23, citing improvements in wildlife conditions and evacuation coordination. Officials reported roughly 9,000 of the 21,000 people identified as evacuees have returned home, though several fires continue to burn across northern Manitoba.

According to the Manitoba government wildfire dashboard, as of July 25, Fire NO005 had grown to approximately 149,560 hectares (369,571 acres). It remained uncontained, with no containment percentage reported, and was classified as out of control, burning about 5 km from the Pimicikamak Cree Nation in the Incorporated Community of Cross Lake as well as Jenpeg Generating Station and Whiskey Jack Landing, both near small Indigenous settlements. 

For Ross and his family, this means they will stay about another week or two in Niagara Falls.

“I don’t know how many Hercules planes went into our Cross Lake to pick up people, to get them out from Winnipeg,” Ross said, referring to the large military aircraft Canada typically uses in rescue operations. “I’m very glad they brought us here.”

The Canadian Red Cross said it is coordinating emergency accommodations for more than 8,300 households on behalf of Indigenous Services Canada and more than 4,400 households on behalf of the province of Manitoba. 

The Red Cross and Indigenous Services Canada continue to provide support at reception centers across Manitoba and Ontario, with some families facing prolonged stay in Niagara Falls until air quality improves and fire threats recede.