First Nation evacuees fleeing wildfire face safety risks in Toronto, leaders say

TORONTO — In a Toronto hotel off Highway 401, a bag check station screening for alcohol greets people in the lobby.

Cat Lake First Nation operations manager Derek Spence said it’s to limit drinking among residents who evacuated from the community north of Sioux Lookout, Ont., last week as wildfires closed in and downed power lines. Alcohol and drugs are much easier to come by in Toronto than the remote fly-in community residents call home, Spence explained.

Substance use and fears of suspicious people hanging around the hotel where Cat Lake residents are sheltering have been fuelling some residents’ desire to return home as soon as possible, even as nearly 180 wildfires continue to burn in Ontario’s north.

“It is a scary city for some people, and there (were) people hanging around here trying to abduct some of the ladies,” Spence said. “Someone’s gonna get lost, someone’s going to get hurt, someone’s going to get killed.”

First Nation chiefs and community members are highlighting the dangers that follow evacuees after they have fled northern Ontario wildfires, as they say those sheltering in Toronto hotels are facing elevated safety risks linked to drugs, alcohol and human trafficking.

Cat Lake First Nation Chief Russell Wesley said he worked with the province to evacuate more than 450 of his community members to Toronto last week, but already he wants to see them return home.

Wesley said the community was not given autonomy to pick where residents were evacuated to and if he had the choice, he would have kept residents closer to home where they could maintain cultural practices such as fishing and hunting and minimize the disruption of their lives.

Instead, the “social cost” of First Nations not having the power to manage their own evacuations has been laid bare, he said.

Cat Lake social worker Chantal Wesley said she’s had sleepless nights worrying if all residents made it back to their rooms safely, and security guards have already had run-ins with “predators.”

“There are real threats in the (Greater Toronto Area). I know that we are more vulnerable, especially our young women and our girls,” she said.

The social worker said some community members drink as a way of coping with the intergenerational impacts of the residential school system. These were already issues for residents in their remote community, but the danger has been exacerbated by the evacuation, she said.

People who drink near the hotel are steps away from a fast-moving highway.

“Our people are struggling and it’s not their fault, but also how do we support them? How do we make sure that they’re safe?” she said.

The same concerns have been echoed by members of the Neskantaga First Nation, who also moved to a Toronto hotel as wildfire smoke filled their homes and interrupted food and water deliveries to the fly-in community.

Chief Gary Quisess said there was a security incident at the hotel involving a young mother who was approached by a person in a vehicle, raising his concerns about potential human trafficking.

Joey Morningstar, a manager with ISN Maskwa, an Indigenous-led emergency management company providing wraparound services to Neskantaga during the evacuation, said safety issues related to alcohol and human trafficking are all too common after First Nation communities evacuate.

He said people have been lost to overdoses during previous evacuations because drugs and alcohol are more accessible in cities than in residents’ communities. No overdoses have occurred during evacuations managed by ISN Maskwa, he said.

“They don’t have to be looking for it. It will find them in a lot of the cities, they will prey on the vulnerable,” Morningstar said.

ISN Maskwa has stationed security guards outside the hotel where Neskantaga evacuees are staying, and Morningstar said they keep descriptions of community members in case they go missing.

Despite making up only five per cent of Canada’s population, 13 per cent of all missing adults in 2025 were Indigenous, according to Statistics Canada. The danger is most acute for Indigenous women, who represent 58 per cent of missing Indigenous adults and also face disproportionate rates of violence.

A Canadian Women’s Foundation report on sex trafficking in Canada that was issued in 2014, the latest available, polled organizations that support victims and found that more than 50 per cent of trafficked women were Indigenous. Meanwhile, a 2025 geospatial analysis conducted by Thompson Reuters found high amounts of disappearances and sex ads featuring Indigenous women in the Greater Toronto Area.

First Nations have also borne more than their share of the impacts of Ontario wildfires this year. Twelve of the 13 communities evacuated due to wildfires raging in Ontario’s north are First Nations.

Morningstar said governments need to do more to ensure First Nation communities are prepared when they need to evacuate, as experts warn such disruptions are becoming more common.

As climate change fuels more intense wildfire seasons and development expands into fire-prone areas, some studies have suggested the number of people facing evacuation in Canada could triple by 2030.

Riley Yesno, an Anishinaabe scholar and member of the Eabametoong First Nation, said those who have fled wildfires are “climate refugees” in their own homelands and pushed back on the idea that evacuees must be “perfect victims.”

She said First Nation evacuees face expectations to act a certain way and be “grateful” for whatever support they receive.

Amy Cardinal Christianson, a Cree-Métis fire scientist, said evacuations carry risks and trauma for fleeing First Nations and being placed in an unfamiliar urban environment can be stressful for some.

Russell Wesley, the Cat Lake First Nation chief, said he’s planning to fly residents back home as soon as possible with help from the province, as wildfire risk near the community is now lower and power has been restored.

Chantal Wesley, the social worker, said she wants to return despite the risk.

“You have to pick which one’s more dangerous. Is it more dangerous for us to be in the (Greater Toronto Area), or is it more dangerous for us to go home and be with the fire?” she said. “There’s no right answer.”

This report by The Canadian Press was first published July 24, 2026.

– With files from Jordan Omstead

Kathryn Mannie, The Canadian Press