Opposition grills government on 'communications breakdown' prior to fire evacuations

The Official Opposition want to know why a "communications breakdown" happened between the government and First Nations while a wildfire was bearing down on communities in eastern Manitoba.

Hundreds of people from Little Grand Rapids and Pauingassi First Nations have been flown from their communities to Winnipeg because of a 20,000-hectare wildfire that continues to burn nearby.

Pauingassi and Little Grand Rapids are less than 20 kilometres apart and about 260 kilometres northeast of Winnipeg near the Ontario border.

First Nations leadership have criticized the way the provincial and federal government handled the evacuation process, saying operations should have started earlier.

Terrence Owen, operations manager at Amik Aviation, which assisted with the efforts, said Wednesday the decision to evacuate came too late and described the operation in Little Grand Rapids as "panic." 

"I don't know what broke down — communication, leadership, I'm not too sure. But this shouldn't have happened the way it did."

Lack of communication: Wab Kinew

On Thursday, during question period, Opposition Leader Wab Kinew said it was "clear" there was a lack of communication between the government and leadership of Little Grand Rapids before the evacuation.

"These plans should be communicated to everyone, everyone should be on the same page," Kinew said. "Given what we've heard over the past day or so can the premier tell us what steps he will take to improve communication [between the government and people affected]?"

"We've had the opportunity in Manitoba to learn through our own failures and experience improvements as a consequence. I expect that will be the reality here as well," Premier Brian Pallister said in response.

Kinew then asked the premier what the government learned from the 2017 wildfires, which drove thousands from their homes in Island Lake, and asked what steps the government has taken to improve the supports and services provided to evacuees.

"There are always incredible stresses endured by the people affected [by evacuations]," Pallister responded.

He said it's "imperative in the follow-up of the handling of this event … that we use every opportunity to learn how we can do a better job in future such occurrences because nature has a way of repeating this unacceptable behaviour." 

'No say' in evacuation decision: Ron Schuler

In a scrum after question period, when asked about concerns the province didn't respond fast enough, Infrastructure Minister Ron Schuler said the province "does a lot of the co-ordination, however the decision and the actual evacuating of individuals from a First Nation is a federal government jurisdiction.

"To be very clear we have no say there." 

Federal Minister of Indigenous Services Jane Philpott said her department became "immediately involved" when the formal request for aid came in late Tuesday afternoon. Within hours, the Canadian Red Cross had started evacuations and the Department of National Defence worked overnight to assist, she said. The Canadian Armed Forces reassigned a Chinook helicopter and sent a CC-130 Hercules aircraft on Wednesday.

"We obviously will do an analysis at some point in terms of how well all of the communication took place, but the response that we have had so far, I think, has been exceedingly rapid and we are very pleased that people are safe," Philpott said.

When asked about communication throughout the process, Schuler said the problem initially may have come from people's cellphones not being on. 

"As frustrating as it is, [cellphones] need to be plugged in from time to time and they're not always fully charged so there was some difficulty getting phone calls through and having those conversations."

When asked for details about who wasn't able to be reached, Schuler said "I'm just giving what could have been the problem with the phones."

He said Emergency Measures was trying to reach the leadership of Little Grand Rapids early in the week and "they couldn't get anybody on the phone."