WINNIPEG -- Some Indigenous leaders want the Manitoba government to declare a state of emergency and free up more hotel rooms for people who have fled forest fires in the north.
Chief Dino Flett of Garden Hill First Nation says people living in close quarters in emergency shelters in Winnipeg have been getting sick.
He says this is the first time he can recall large shelters being used for forest fire evacuees because of a lack of available hotel rooms.
Garden Hill and two other Indigenous communities were evacuated last week, and more than 1,000 people were initially put up in two large shelters in Winnipeg.
The Canadian Red Cross says it has been transferring people to hotel rooms as they become available, and only about 300 people remain at a shelter.
Premier Brian Pallister says he wont declare a state of emergency, and says everyone involved is doing the best they can.
