Evacuees being directed to group lodging as reception centres fill up
Posted May 9, 2016 11:47 pm.
Last Updated May 10, 2016 6:26 am.
This article is more than 5 years old.
Calgary Emergency Management Agency Chief Tom Sampson says despite a move from individual rooms to group lodging, every Fort McMurray evacuee is still welcome in Calgary and will be taken care of.
“Every evacuee will be welcomed to Calgary and we’ll do our very best to take care of them, it’s just one of those situations where we’ve been really fortunate to have our partners in the post-secondary institutions help us and now were running a little bit out of space and have to move on to that group lodging.” Sampson said.
At about 8 p.m., the City of Calgary gave evacuees notice on Twitter.
Sampson says group lodging involves a number of cots set up in a gymnasium and is something that’s happening already in most of the rest of Alberta.
He tells 660 NEWS, the city will never stop turning people away.
“I think our stance in Calgary is that we’ve always opened our doors to people who are in trouble, and we will continue to hold our doors open, we have other places we can go to if we need, it’s just that we probably can’t get more room in the same fashion that we’ve been doing it.”
Sampson adds, if you know someone from Fort McMurray you should get in touch with them and offer housing.
Around 2,100 people are being housed at SAIT, The University of Calgary, Mount Royal University and Ambrose College.
