Update 6: Northwest Alberta wildfire (May 27 at 5 p.m.) Watch aerial footage of the fires

Lloyd Lewis

Published

6 years ago

12 minute read

May 27, 2019

High temperatures and dry conditions continue across Northern Alberta. About 3,400 evacuees have applied online for evacuee support, and more than $3.4 million in support has been distributed.

Current situation

The Chuckegg Creek Wildfire is burning approximately three kilometres southwest of the Town of High Level in Mackenzie County.
This out-of-control wildfire has grown to more than 127,000 hectares.
Communities in the north of the province may experience heavy smoke from the fires in the next 24 hours.
Resources on the ground include about 400 wildland firefighters, 194 structural fighters and staff on the ground, supported by 28 helicopters, eight air tankers and 46 pieces of heavy equipment.
Evacuation centres have registered approximately 4,470 people as of May 27 at noon.
A voluntary evacuation is in place for Paddle Prairie Metis Settlement and areas north of High Level.
The province is providing one-time financial support to evacuees displaced by northwest wildfires.
You may qualify for the evacuation payment if you were:
- living, working or vacationing in the affected area
- forced to leave due to an evacuation order
- paid for most of your costs to evacuate
Albertans who qualify will receive $1,250 for each adult and $500 for each dependent child.
Applications are open:
- Online (Interac e-transfers may take 24 hours to go through)
- In person at evacuation reception centres
- If you require assistance registering, call 310-4455. If you’re having technical issues, contact My Alberta Digital ID at 1-844-643-2789 (Monday to Friday, 8:15 a.m. to 4:30 p.m.).
Evacuees can apply online for employment insurance using this code: 4812014812201900. Visit Service Canada to apply: www.canada.ca/en/services/benefits/ei.html
Detailed information is available on emergency.alberta.ca, which is updated frequently.

Reception centres

Reception centres are open at:
- Slave Lake Legacy Centre (400 6 Avenue NE)
- High Prairie Gordon Buchanan Centre (5413 49 Street)
- Grande Prairie Regional College (10726 106 Avenue)
- Peace River Misery Mountain Ski Hill (10408 89 Street)
- La Crete Heritage Centre (25411 Township Road 1060, south of La Crete)
- Fort Vermilion Community Cultural Complex (5001 44 Avenue)
- Hay River Dene Wellness Centre (In K’atl’ Odeeche First Nation, 17 kilometres east of Hay River)

Highway closures

Highway 35 remains closed between five kilometres and 30 kilometres south of High Level. Highway 697 and the La Crete Ferry is identified as a detour. La Crete Ferry is operational with wait times of approximately one hour.
Highway 58 from High Level to approximately 90 kilometres (west of High Level) from the junction with Range Road 45A remains closed.

Insurance information

Evacuated residents should retain all their receipts for food purchases, accommodation and other related expenses to provide to their insurer for possible reimbursement.
Most home and tenant’s insurance policies provide reasonable coverage for living expenses during an evacuation. Contact your insurance company for details.
Albertans who cannot remember or reach their insurance provider, can contact the Insurance Bureau of Canada at 1-844-227-5422 or by email at [email protected]. Information to understand your fire insurance coverage is online at www.ibc.ca/ab/disaster/alberta-wildfire.

Justice and legal matters

High Level Court is closed. Call the Peace River Court at 780-624-6256 for inquiries on High Level Court matters scheduled for this week and next. All scheduled Fort Vermilion matters will be heard in Peace River. Call the Peace River Court at 780-624-6256 if you’re unable to register your name and phone number. Matters will be held by phone if necessary.
In many cases, tickets can be paid online. For any other inquiries requiring direction from the court about Peace River and Fort Vermilion court matters, call the Peace River Court at 780-624-6256.
If you have an appointment with a probation officer in an evacuated area, report to the community corrections office nearest you. If you do not know where the nearest one is, call 780-427-3109 (to call toll free, first dial 310-0000).
If you are an intermittent server in an evacuated area, call the Peace River Correctional Centre at 780-624-5480 (to call toll free, first dial 310-0000) for direction.

Education

Grade 12 students in the High Level area are eligible for an exemption from their diploma exam. When a student is exempt from the diploma exam, their classroom mark will be their final mark.
These students could also write the exam if they choose to do so and can safely make it to a school, either in their community or another. Students can also defer writing the diploma exams to August.
For grades 6 and 9 provincial achievement tests – the students can be excused from writing. Alternately, these students could write the tests if they can safely make it to a school, either in their community or another.
Once students and their families have made a decision, they should contact their school division.

Air quality

Much of northern Alberta is under a special air quality statement.
Alberta Wildfire recommends checking FireSmoke.ca to find out where the smoke is coming from.

Boil Water Advisory

Boil Water Advisories remain in place for Meander River (Dene Tha’ First Nation), John D’Or Prairie, Fox Lake and North Tall Cree (Little Red River Cree Nation). Although power has been restored, the Boil Water Advisories will remain in place until water testing is complete.

Health

Mental health support is available by calling Alberta’s 24-hour Mental Health Help Line at 1-877-303-2642.
Alberta Health Services is providing supports to the receptions centres. These supports include addiction and mental health, indigenous health liaisons, nursing, emergency medical services, public health, home care and more.

Pets and livestock

Animal Control are collecting household pets that have been left behind. Pets will be moved to a safe and secure location outside of the Town of High Level. If you have left your household pet behind, please contact 780-926-2201.
Mackenzie County has stock trailers to assist with livestock. transport. Visit www.highlevel.ca for more information.

Donations and volunteers

The towns of High Level and Slave Lake are not accepting material donations and do not require volunteers at this time.
The Town of Slave Lake has set up an online form for offers. Click here.
Check the Mackenzie County Facebook page for an up-to-date list of donations needed and drop-off locations.

Canada Post

Canada Post has suspended mail delivery services in the communities of High Level, Paddle Prairie Metis Settlement, Meander River, Chateh and Keg River.
Mail will be held at the Edmonton depot until mail service resumes.
Check the Canada Post website for updates.

Income Support, Alberta Supports and AISH

Residents receiving benefits from the Assured Income for the Severely Handicapped (AISH) or the Income Support program by cheque rather than electronic deposit, and who are affected by the wildfire in High Level, can visit their nearest Alberta Supports Centres Alberta Supports [www.alberta.ca/alberta-supports.aspx] to pick up their cheque.
If you are in La Crete, you can pick up your cheque at the local reception centre. If you receive your benefits via direct deposit, your payment will be deposited as usual.
For information on child intervention and child care, residents may contact 1-800-638-0715.
If persons with developmental disabilities, their families or contracted service providers need human, financial, or in-kind assistance to connect with loved ones, find accommodations or provide assistance to individuals receiving PDD supports, please contact the nearest Alberta Supports Centre for assistance. You can find a list of Alberta Supports Centres online Alberta Supports www.alberta.ca/alberta-supports.aspx or you can call the Alberta Supports contact Centre at 1-800-232-7215 provincewide between 7:30 a.m. and 8 p.m., Monday to Friday.
For additional information on social benefits, affected individuals can contact Alberta Supports at www.alberta.ca/alberta-supports.aspx or call 1-877-644-9992, Monday to Friday from 7:30 a.m. to 8 p.m.

Health card, driver’s licences, ID cards, birth certificate

To get a replacement Health Care Insurance Card at no cost, you can contact 780-427-1432 or toll free at 310-0000 and then 780-427-1432 when prompted. Your Alberta Personal Health Card can be mailed to a temporary address.
If driver’s licences, ID cards, and/or birth certificates were left behind during the evacuation, replacement cards and certificates can be ordered free of charge at a registry agent. A list of registry locations can be found at https://www.alberta.ca/registry-agents.aspx

Other information

Residents driving through the area should carry enough fuel as there may be shortages.

Public information

You can call 310-4455 for more information.

President Todayville Inc., Honorary Colonel 41 Signal Regiment, Board Member Lieutenant Governor of Alberta Arts Award Foundation, Director Canadian Forces Liaison Council (Alberta) musician, photographer, former VP/GM CTV Edmonton.

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Alberta

Alberta health ministry to ‘consider’ report calling for end to COVID shots for healthy kids

Published on January 28, 2025

Todayville

From LifeSiteNews

By Anthony Murdoch

The report recommended halting “the use of COVID-19 vaccines without full disclosure of their potential risks” as well as outright ending their use “for healthy children and teenagers as other jurisdictions have done,” mentioning countries like “Denmark, Sweden, Norway, Finland, and the U.K.”

Alberta’s health minister says she will “consider” the findings of a report published last week which recommends the immediate halt of the COVID shots for healthy children and teenagers.

In a statement sent to the media, the office of Alberta’s Health Minister Adriana LaGrange said that the provincial government will “review and consider this report and its findings,” while at the same time noting that “no policy decisions have been made in relation to it at this time.”

The statement came in reference to the Alberta COVID-19 Pandemic Data Review Task Force’s “COVID Pandemic Response” 269-page final report, which was released last Friday. The report, which was commissioned by Premier Danielle Smith, recommended the halting of “the use of COVID-19 vaccines without full disclosure of their potential risks” as well as outright ending their use “for healthy children and teenagers as other jurisdictions have done,” mentioning countries like “Denmark, Sweden, Norway, Finland, and the U.K.”

LaGrange’s office noted that the report’s findings build on efforts it says the government has already made to “enhance Alberta’s ability to respond to future public emergencies.”

Among the recommendations of the task force was the call to “[f]urther research to establish the safety and efficacy of COVID-19 vaccines is necessary before widespread use in adults and children,” the establishment of “a website and/or call-in center for the vaccine injured in Alberta” as well as establishing a “mechanism for opting out of federal health policy until provincial due process has been satisfied.”

The report also noted that “[c]hildren and teenagers have a very low risk of serious illness from COVID-19. COVID-19 vaccines were not designed to halt transmission and there is a lack of reliable data showing that the vaccines protect children from severe COVID-19.”  

It is worth noting that Alberta Health Services (AHS) is still promoting the COVID shots for babies as young as six months old.  

LifeSiteNews has published an extensive amount of research on the dangers of the experimental COVID mRNA jabs, which include heart damage and blood clots.  

The mRNA shots have also been linked to a multitude of negative and often severe side effects in children and all have connections to cell lines derived from aborted babies.   

Danielle Smith still silent on report

At the time of publication, Premier Danielle Smith has still not commented on the bombshell report.

Smith’s lack of commentary on the issue comes despite the fact that she was the one who commissioned the report last year, giving the task force a sweeping mandate to investigation her predecessor’s COVID-era mandates and policies.

After assuming her role as premier in late 2022, Smith promptly fired the province’s top doctor, Deena Hinshaw, and the entire AHS board of directors, all of whom oversaw the implementation of COVID mandates.  

Under Smith’s predecessor Jason Kenney, thousands of nurses, doctors, and other healthcare and government workers lost their jobs for choosing to not get the jabs, leading Smith to say – only minutes after being sworn in – that over the past year the “unvaccinated” were the “most discriminated against” group of people in her lifetime.

Alberta

UCP Calgary-Lougheed riding calls for response to the Dr. Gary Davidson COVID 19 Task Force Review

Published on January 27, 2025

Todayville

From Sheldon Yakiwchuk

By Darrell Komick, President, UCP Calgary-Lougheed

The flood of questions regarding the UCP Calgary-Lougheed response to the Dr. Gary Davidson COVID 19 Task Force report is encouraging. To think that so many Canadians have risked so much speaking out about the COVID 19 mandates is astounding. Dr. Davidson’s report is the validation that Premier Smith needs to marshal support from cabinet. Our structure of government requires support from the Alberta Caucus and Cabinet.

It’s clear, Premier Smith has the knowledge, let’s support her will to lead with action.

Our community of curious minds and critical thinkers is working to educate and inform Albertans about the long term impacts of the COVID mandates. This is a war of persistence, attrition, and faith. Join us in supporting Premier Smith to call on the Alberta cabinet to activate the recommendations for the “healing of humanity”.

Here are four important talking points. Our friends in UCP Highwood CA led by Helen Holder, have created a quick to reference chart as to the major points and the associated recommendations. This chart is attached. I have also included the logo and details about An Injection of Truth: Healing Humanity.

Albertans need to thank the leadership of Premier Smith for calling commissioning the Dr. Gary Davidson Report, the findings and recommendations of the report are shocking. We call upon cabinet to follow the leadership of the Premier and immediately activate the Davidson recommendations starting with the halting of COVID mNRA vaccinations for children in Alberta.

Dr. Davidson’s report validates the data presented at the June 17 An Injection of Truth Town Hall by Canadian scientists like Dr. David Speicher, Dr. Jessica Rose, & Dr. Byram Bridle. These experts have been using government, industry and research data to sound a critical alarm to all Albertans hoping that cabinet will take leadership like has been done in the state of Florida.

Forward thinking Albertans have planned a second town hall on March 3, 2025 An Injection of Truth: Healing Humanity that calls upon experts to provide recommendations to heal individuals and society inflicted by the harms of the COVID mandates. (Get your tickets →HERE)

When do we acknowledge that there is a problem? How do we help Albertans understand the source of suffering? How can we provide emotional support for those living with the trauma of long COVID? How do we make society whole again? How long will it take the Alberta cabinet to act on the recommendations of the Davidson report?