NDP Indigenous Affairs Critic Leah Gazan calls out federal neglect of wildfire evacuees « Canada’s NDP
OTTAWA — MP Leah Gazan (Winnipeg Centre) is calling for accountability from the Liberal Minister of Indigenous Services Canada, Mandy Gull-Masty, for her failure to respond to the needs of wildfire evacuees in Winnipeg.
Gazan wrote to Minister Gull-Masty in July 2025, when thousands of evacuees were displaced to Winnipeg due to an extreme wildfire season in Manitoba, which was especially impactful on Indigenous peoples. Minister Gull-Masty only responded to that letter last Wednesday, May 28th, 2026—a delay that Gazan says is insulting to those who are still displaced from their communities.
In a response last week, Gazan said that “[i]t is shameful, Minister, that it took you nearly a year to provide a response without any plan of action to such an urgent issue. The letter that I sent on July 24, 2025 outlined simple requests for upholding the safety and dignity of evacuees, rights that are protected in our Charter that you seem to feel comfortable overlooking.”
Gazan noted further that there are still displaced evacuees living in her community, where they haven’t had access to adequate public supports to uphold their safety and wellbeing, particularly Indigenous women and girls who are vulnerable to sexual predators.
Beyond rectifying past failures to respond to climate change-driven emergencies, Gazan and the NDP are calling on the government to protect the rights of all those vulnerable to wildfires as the summer approaches.
“Year after year we’ve seen escalating extreme weather events that have uprooted folks from their communities and jeopardized their safety. The government must uphold their wellbeing, and put in place a real plan to ensure their safety is prioritized,” Gazan said.