Manitoba wildfire evacuees transported to Niagara Falls, a city already teeming with shelter

Manitoba wildfire evacuees transported to Niagara Falls, a city already teeming with shelter-seekers

Akita Colomb and her three-year-old daughter Lucillia Francois in the children’s activity tent at the Days Inn hotel in Niagara Fall, Ont. They are among hundreds of northern Cree from reserves across Manitoba that were evacuated to the city.

Akita Colomb and her children are not in Niagara Falls for the waterfalls, wax museums, casinos or blinking lights of the carnival rides that call out to the millions of tourists who come here on vacation.

For them, the Ontario city represents something else: sanctuary from the wildfires that have consumed so much of northern Manitoba.

The family members are among hundreds of northern Cree from reserves across Manitoba that were flown here af