Brittany Hobson, The Canadian Press

Winnipeg hotels were opening up Monday to evacuees who fled their homes due to raging wildfires, while to the west in Saskatchewan, thousands more were ordered to flee.

The Saskatchewan Public Safety Agency issued an alert late Monday afternoon, saying the northern town of La Ronge had ordered an evacuation as fire had breached its airport.

The agency said flames were fast-moving and that people in the community of 2,500, as well as anyone within 20 kilometres, including nearby Air Ronge and the Lac La Ronge Indian Band, had to leave immediately.

Cottage owners and disaster prevention experts in Manitoba are urging governments to develop comprehensive wildfire management plans after a pair of devastating wildfires.

Close to 1,000 people were forced from their homes last week as a wildfire near the Rural Municipality of Lac du Bonnet, spurred by dry, hot and windy conditions, burned nearby.

The quick-moving fire, which is currently being held, destroyed 28 homes and cottages and left two people dead.

Manitoba Premier Wab Kinew declared a state of emergency Thursday to aid the evacuation of a provincial park due to wildfires, one day after the bodies of two people were found in the ashes.

Kinew did not provide details about the man and woman who died in the fire in the Rural Municipality of Lac du Bonnet, a popular lakefront cottage area northeast of Winnipeg.

But he said the deaths mean officials are taking the danger seriously and want additional powers to enforce evacuation orders.

Dyana Lavallee stares at a copy of a photograph on display to the public at the Hudson's Bay Company Archives in Winnipeg. 

The Metis woman quickly recognizes it as the same one her grandmother had years ago. 

"This is my family," she said referring to the figures in the picture. "I'm actually shaking a bit."

It's not the first time Lavallee has visited the archives, but it is the first time she's seen that photo among the thousands of historical documents that are housed at the Archives of Manitoba. 

Wally Daudrich, who was recently defeated in the race to lead Manitoba's Opposition Progressive Conservatives, says he remains a "loyal" member of the party and still plans on seeking the Tory nomination to run in a byelection.

The hotel owner and longtime party board member says he hopes to run uncontested in the Spruce Woods constituency.

"I've been vetted (by) the party. I have gone through all those hoops … and I believe I'm ready to run as a candidate," Daudrich said in an interview Wednesday. 

Tréchelle Bunn has had a whirlwind month. 

She wrapped up her two-year tenure as one of the Southern Chiefs' Organization youth chiefs, finished her second year of law school at the University of Manitoba and received an Indspire award for her work in Indigenous communities at a ceremony in Vancouver.

Then an election held the day Bunn returned to Manitoba from B.C. put the young woman in the history books. 

First Nations leaders in Manitoba say the search of a landfill for the victim of a serial killer must include recovery efforts for another First Nations woman who vanished more than a decade ago.

Tanya Nepinak was last seen in Winnipeg in September 2011 and police believe her body was dumped in a garbage bin and taken to the Brady Road landfill in the city.

"We need to bring Tanya home," Assembly of Manitoba Chiefs Grand Chief Kyra Wilson said in a statement Tuesday.

The national chief of the Assembly of First Nations says the fourth victim of a Winnipeg serial killer has been identified as Ashlee Shingoose.

Cindy Woodhouse Nepinak says she has spoken with the woman's parents and offered her condolences.

"My heart goes out to all the families of missing and murdered Indigenous women and girls," she said.

Police are scheduled to confirm the identity of the victim, who was given the name Buffalo Woman, at a news conference Wednesday afternoon.

Winnipeg police are to provide an update today on an investigation into the death of an unidentified woman who was slain by convicted serial killer Jeremy Skibicki.

Police have provided few details about the young Indigenous victim, who was given the name Buffalo Woman by a group of Indigenous grandmothers.

Skibicki's murder trial heard he met the woman sometime in March 2022 outside a homeless shelter and brought her back to his place before killing her.

Manitoba's Opposition Progressive Conservatives are calling for an investigation after Premier Wab Kinew accepted private travel with Winnipeg's professional football team to go to two Grey Cup games.

The Tory caucus has asked the ethics commissioner to investigate the trips, saying accepting flights through a private charter goes against the province's Conflict of Interest Act.

The Winnipeg Blue Bombers invited Kinew on a private charter to the 2023 game in Hamilton and the 2024 game in Vancouver.