This summer, wildfires have caused evacuations across Canada and recently forced thousands of people to flee their homes in Newfoundland and Labrador.
Some of the biggest impacts are being felt in the Prairies. In Manitoba, authorities recently issued evacuation orders for 15,000 people, mostly in the province's north. Many evacuees are brought to larger cities like Winnipeg, overwhelming hotels and emergency housing.
In Canada, climate-driven migration is often imagined as a distant threat that affects others in the world. But these evacuations foreshadow a future where internal displacement becomes a regular feature of Canadian life—and where cities must rethink how they plan for disruption.
Events like the 88,000-person evacuation from Fort McMurray, Alta. in 2016 and the destruction of Lytton, B.C. in 2021 show how fast rural populations can be displaced.
If adults could afford their own houses than there would be significantly more capacity for people to stay with friends and family instead of having to take refuge at hockey arenas.
Oh, I would like a nice deck chair on the Titanic too. But the more important conversation is that we're on the Titanic, rather than the quality of the seat cushions, is it not? Maybe not.
Exactly a week ago, a wildfire started 5km from where I live and I prepared to evacuate. Luckily it didn't come to that for me, but there were people in my town who did have to evacuate. I'd rather stay with people I know than in a hockey arena, but I'd take a hockey arena over burning to death in a fire. It's all relative.