On City Beat yesterday, Mayor Colleen Smook offered details about a letter she sent to the Minister of Transportation and Infrastructure Lisa Naylor in May.

Here she explains what prompted her to write the letter.

“In the last couple of years, when there have been fires around us or the surrounding Northern region, Thompson hasn’t been kept in the loop at all until all of a sudden, there are buses of evacuees heading into Thompson.”

Smook said it is important that the city be kept updated in those situations.

She added that this year, the communication with the Emergency Management Organization was more collaborative.

However, she believes that the city needs to improve on services to evacuees once they arrive here.

She acknowledges that we have a small Red Cross contingent here in the city and the province needs to jump in to make sure there are enough people on hand to help during emergencies.