By Maggie Macintosh, Local Journalism Initiative Reporter, Winnipeg Free Press Six-year-old Raylynn Mercer spent much of his summer break bicycling around hotel parking lots and cuddling with his Chihuahua, Princess. “He’s a trooper,” Irene Mercer said as she reflected on the abrupt end of her son’s first school year and uncertainty surrounding his entry into Grade 1. “Due to fires, they weren’t allowed to celebrate the end of kindergarten. He was very crushed.” The Mercers and others from Mathias Colomb Cree Nation, also known as Pukatawagan, were forced to flee south about 100 days ago. The 2025 wildfire season is the worst on record in 30 years. More than two million hectares of Manitoba have burned and while most fires are out or under control, widespread infrastructure damage is delaying

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