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Winnipeg Free Press

Long waits for bathroom at U of W shelter, evacuee says

A northern Manitoba woman forced from her home due to wildfire says an evacuation centre set up at the University of Winnipeg is not properly equipped to handle evacuees. Sophia Harper waited in line for several hours to use the washroom at the U of W's Axworthy Health & RecPlex, which has been set up as a congregate shelter for wildfire evacuees. 'I started feeling bladder problems because you can't just hold it for that long,' Harper said outside the complex Monday afternoon. SOPHIA HARPER PHOTO Members of Sophia Harper's family, from Garden Hill Anisininew Nation, aboard a Hercules aircraft bound for Winnipeg last week. She is one of more than 450 Manitobans staying at the shelter, and has no other option because she has no friends or family in Winnipeg. Harper, who fled her home in Garden Hill Anisininew Nation on Friday, said the gym has one set of bathrooms for women and one for men. 'I keep sending my kids over to check if the line is long because I can't stand there forever,' she said. Harper left the remote, fly-in community of about 4,000 people Friday morning by airplane and arrived at the U of W shelter by the afternoon. The community is located about 600 kilometres northeast of Winnipeg. Harper is staying at the shelter with her children and grandchildren but says it's been difficult being around hundreds of strangers and sleeping on cots. 'I get cramps all over my body and I can't lay down on that (cot) so I slept on the floor,' she said. The shelter can fit as many as 800 people, the province said. On Monday afternoon, about a dozen evacuees milled around the complex's entrance near the U of W. A pair of evacuees, who declined to provide their name, said they would rather stay anywhere else and might try to move to the shelter on Leila Avenue because it's bigger and reportedly has more amenities. 'I keep sending my kids over to check if the line is long because I can't stand there forever.'–Sophia Harper The Leila site, which is hosting about 650 people, has room for 1,200 evacuees. Rows of green cots, some occupied by people, could be seen from the U of W gym's entrance Monday. Some blankets were tied up to look like tents above the cots. Harper said the shelter is doing its best to feed and clothe people, but said she had to give her socks to a fellow evacuee yesterday. 'He said he hadn't changed his socks in two or three days, I couldn't believe it,' she said. A provincial spokesperson said it had not received any complaints about the lack of bathrooms at the Axworthy complex but a Free Press reporter spotted a truck setting up several portable washrooms outside the gym Monday afternoon. Alex McDougall, interim Grand Chief of Anisininew Okimawin, which represents four Island Lake First Nations including Garden Hill, has spoken to the provincial and federal governments about additional resources at the shelters. 'I think all of the resources that have been provided are stressed to their limits everywhere,' he said. Wednesdays A weekly dispatch from the head of the Free Press newsroom. McDougall also worried about keeping evacuees busy while they're away from home and in an unfamiliar place. 'I think all of the resources that have been provided are stressed to their limits everywhere.'–Alex McDougall 'It's getting a bit overwhelming as far as trying to provide care and other activities to keep these members busy and preoccupied with activities so they're not just sitting in these shelters waiting to hear when they're going to go home,' he said. Children are going stir crazy owing to a lack of activities in the shelters, McDougall said. 'We need to get some more help on the ground here to provide that assistance to those members, maybe planning field trips or going to the zoo, taking them to the movies.' Nicole BuffieMultimedia producer Nicole Buffie is a multimedia producer who reports for the Free Press city desk. Born and bred in Winnipeg, Nicole graduated from Red River College's Creative Communications program in 2020 and worked as a reporter throughout Manitoba before joining the Free Press newsroom in 2023. Read more about Nicole. Every piece of reporting Nicole produces is reviewed by an editing team before it is posted online or published in print — part of the Free Press's tradition, since 1872, of producing reliable independent journalism. Read more about Free Press's history and mandate, and learn how our newsroom operates. Our newsroom depends on a growing audience of readers to power our journalism. If you are not a paid reader, please consider becoming a subscriber. Our newsroom depends on its audience of readers to power our journalism. Thank you for your support.