Kamloops Powwow grounds transformed into makeshift evacuee camp

Aspiritual gathering place forKamloopsFirst Nations typically full of music and colour hasbeen transformed into a makeshift camp for wildfire evacuees.

TheTk'emlupsPowwow grounds are playing host to about 300 hundredpeoplewho have made their way intoKamloopsafter being forced out of their homes.

"It's an open door," said Chief Fred Seymour of theKamloopsIndian Band. "Until you're in that situation being displaced, you don't know how your house is or when you'll move back we're here to try and make it comfortable for everybody."

The majority of campers are First Nations, many of whom left reserves near Williams Lake.

ACaribooRegional District spokesperson says First Nations have not been included in the province's estimate of 40,000 who have beenimpacted by evacuation orders,making that numberlikely higher than it is.

The district says it is working with a community liaison to determine that number but that information wouldmost likely come from the bands themselves.

At the powwow grounds, Seymour says donations have poured in, which has allowed volunteers to helpservethree meals a day to evacuees.

'I just want to be home'

Elders and those who arrive without camping gearare providedwith one of the 120 bedsset up at a nearby school.

But despite those small comforts, evacuees are still pining for the obvious.

"I just want to be home," saidEdnaLuluawho has been away fromRedstoneReserve, approximately 170 km from Williams Lake for nearly a week. "My family is at home."

She says four of her children remained in that area to help cook after another First Nationfled intotheir community.

Besides missing home, some evacuees struggled to breathe as a thick, inescapable haze covered the grounds on Monday.

Like a family

With no indication as to when residents canreturn home or go back to work, James Thornefrom Williams Lake said he felt grateful necessities were being provided free of charge.

"We've been here in the past in powwows," he said. "Normally it's a place where they make money on the camping but now they've opened the campgrounds as a refuge ... it's really nice."

He says the massive camp had become like a family of people who are allin the same boat.

It gave him a chance to speak with people he had seen before in his neighbourhood but never stopped to talk to.

KamloopaPowwow could be postponed

In three weeks, theKamloopsIndian Band is scheduledto host its much-anticipatedannual powow but it might cancel the eventif the wildfires continue tokeep evacuees out of their homes.

"We're here until day's end," said Seymour. "Because this is our priority."