Winnipeg Free Press

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Winnipeg, MB www.catherineplace.com Furnished Suites Available PRICING FROM THE MID $2000’S WINNIPEGFREEPRESS.COM ● A11 NEWS I EDUCATION SATURDAY, AUGUST 30, 2025 Back to school — away from home S IX-YEAR-OLD Raylynn Mercer spent much of his summer break bicycling around hotel parking lots and cuddling with his Chihuahua, Prin- cess. “He’s a trooper,” Irene Mercer said as she reflected on the abrupt end of her son’s first school year and uncertainty surrounding his entry into Grade 1. “Due to fires, they weren’t allowed to celebrate the end of kindergarten. He was very crushed.” The Mercers and others from Mathias Colomb Cree Nation, also known as Pukatawagan, were forced to flee south about 100 days ago. The 2025 wildfire season is the worst on record in 30 years. More than two million hectares of Manitoba have burned and while most fires are out or under control, widespread infra- structure damage is delaying home- comings. As a result, Raylynn is one of hun- dreds of children who are unable to re- turn home for the first day of the new school year. His mother said she’s determined to enrol him in a classroom, be it at a satel- lite campus set up by Sakastew School administration at Mathias Colomb or a public school in Winnipeg, so he doesn’t miss out on academics and socializing. Evacuees from Pukatawagan staying in Winnipeg were still awaiting details from their education authority on Fri- day afternoon. Their peers in Niagara Falls are expected to attend a tempor- ary classroom being set up in nearby Grimsby, Ont., and run by school staff who are also stranded in the region. Manitoba Education sent a letter to parents and guardians of evacuated children in mid-August to inform them of their options for a nontraditional back-to-school season. “We want to ensure that every child displaced by wildfires has the oppor- tunity to attend school this September — no matter where they are currently staying,” Brian O’Leary, now-former deputy minister of education, wrote in an Aug. 19 memo. O’Leary acknowledged how “incred- ibly challenging” this summer has been for many families. His office shared tips on registering at the nearest public school for free and eligibility; children between the ages of five and 21 have the right to attend classes this fall until they graduate. The bulk of the remaining evacuees are staying in hotels in Winnipeg’s downtown and St. James neighbour- hoods, as well as Brandon, The Pas and Niagara Falls. These visitors hail from Pukatawagan, Leaf Rapids, South In- dian Lake (O-Pipon-Na-Piwin Cree Na- tion) and Lynn Lake (Marcel Colomb First Nation) in northern Manitoba. One week before welcoming students back, the St. James-Assiniboia School Division — whose borders encompass hotels near the airport — had yet to register an evacuee. “We’re waiting with open arms and we will pull together and do the very best we can to support our families when they do arrive,” assistant super- intendent Jordana Buckwold said. Buckwold said her colleagues are in frequent contact with provincial gov- ernment officials and the Canadian Red Cross. They anticipate school buses will be dispatched to hotels and students will be sent to the nearest classroom with space, she said. Inclusion support services director Potoula Locken drew a comparison to the St. James-Assiniboia division’s emergency response when there was an influx of Syrian refugees a decade ago. In this case, divisional co-ordinators and support staff will visit hotels to pro- vide social-emotional support where needed, Locken said. Frontier School Division administra- tion said 450 students from its com- munities across northern Manitoba are still displaced, owing to burnt electrical poles and other infrastructure. The division temporarily increased capacity at its high school campus in Cranberry Portage so displaced teens can begin their studies right away. Manitoba Hydro estimates power will be restored in all affected towns and First Nations by mid-October. There were approximately 1,400 cus- tomers who lost power due to the fires, while about 1,100 structures were dam- aged, the Crown corporation said in its latest report. “This back-to-school thing caused a big uproar. Everyone wants to know, ‘What are the kids going to do?’” said Elly Dumas, an evacuee with four school-aged children living at the Vic- toria Inn near the Winnipeg airport. The 54-year-old said she and her chil- dren are hesitant to sign up at a city public school due to all the unknowns, including the risk of bullying. There are so many logistics to sort out, from lunches to transportation, she added. In Pukatawagan, students bus home for lunch on a daily basis. Dumas said the happy and excited feelings usually associated with a new school year are missing in 2025. Typically, the family travels to Win- nipeg or another urban centre over the Labour Day weekend to shop for school supplies. They have been moved to four dif- ferent hotels in Winnipeg over the last three months. “It’s stressful. It’s sad. My kids are freaked out,” Dumas said. Sharyce Colomb, a mother of an in- fant and two elementary schoolers, echoed those comments. Colomb, 28, said she’s tried to enter- tain them by taking them swimming in their hotel pool, but her eight-year-old has been crying “a lot” due to home- sickness. “They want to go back to school. They’ve been bugging me,” she said, adding that she does not want her Grade 2 or 3 students to start the year at a new school in Winnipeg. “I don’t trust it — the racism.” Superintendent Mathew Gustafson said the Brandon School Division is tak- ing its lead from affected families and community leaders. Gustafson acknowledged displaced caregivers and children may feel anxious about safety risks and being thrown into another unfamiliar space. The division is ready for a range of scenarios, such as reassigning substi- tute teachers, activating spare buses and dropping books and other materials at hotels, he said. “These are people who are in our communities so they’re our students and we have the same obligation and desire to support (them) as anybody who moves into our community,” added Gustafson, who oversees the education of nearly 10,000 students in western Manitoba. Charles Cochrane, who oversees the First Nations school system, said all 13 of his campuses are expected to start on time and as usual. maggie.macintosh@freepress.mb.ca MAGGIE MACINTOSH Hundreds of Manitoba wildfire evacuees face uncertain September LOCAL JOURNALISM INITIATIVE REPORTER MIKAELA MACKENZIE / FREE PRESS Evacuee Raylynn Mercer, 6, with mom Irene Mercer, will have to miss the start of the school year at Mathias Colomb Cree Nation. ;