THUNDER BAY – As devastating wildfires continue to burn across Northwestern Ontario, the Diocese of Algoma is mobilizing to support evacuees who have been forced to flee their homes, many leaving with little more than the clothes they were wearing.
Following reports that communities were being evacuated and residents were arriving in Thunder Bay, Archbishop Anne Germond reached out to clergy across the Thunder Bay–North Shore Deanery to learn what assistance was already underway and how the Diocese could best support local efforts. Alongside Hope, the Anglican Church of Canada’s national relief and development agency, also confirmed that emergency funds were available to assist ministry responding to the crisis.
Those conversations quickly developed into a coordinated deanery-wide response. Working alongside local organizations and Indigenous partners already serving evacuees, Anglican parishes are focusing their efforts on meeting practical needs while ensuring that support complements the work already taking place on the ground.
The Matawa Training and Wellness Centre, one of several organizations welcoming evacuees to Thunder Bay, has become a central focus for the deanery’s response.
In a pastoral message shared with the deanery, the Rev. Elizabeth Sipos, Regional Dean of Thunder Bay–North Shore, invited Anglicans to respond in the spirit of the early Church. “All the believers were one in heart and mind. No one claimed that any of their possessions was their own, but they shared everything they had.” She stressed that many people have lost everything, fleeing only with their lives and, in some cases, their pets. She encouraged churches to be “a witness of Christ’s love, compassion and hope during this dark season.”
The Diocese of Algoma
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