Rose Manor tenants filed into the Quality Inn’s dining area on Wednesday evening, trading greetings and the odd wry witticism. A few were already seated in a circle over a game of cards, chatting idly as they played. Around the edges of the room, crockpots and trays of food were being laid out.
About a dozen tenants sat down together to eat. For many, it may be one of their last chances to share a table before they head their separate ways.
The dinner, hosted by Jill Flamand, came six weeks after fire forced the tenants from their homes and into hotels. A few weeks ago, around 30 would have turned up for an evening meal. Now, the numbers are beginning to dwindle as many begin the process of moving into new homes.
The District of Rainy River Services Board (DRRSB), which owns Rose Manor, is paying for hotel rooms until Nov. 15. Tenants aren’t expected back until well into 2027.
DRRSB said Oct. 30 that more than 25 of the 31 displaced tenants had secured some form of housing. About five still have nowhere to go after Nov. 15.
Judy LaBelle, 73, will share an Airbnb in Fort Frances with other tenants while Rose Manor is being repaired. “I’m just so relieved to have a place to go that’s in town,” she said.
She counts the meals and the company among the bright spots of the past six weeks. “We’ve been very well-fed,” she said, and “it’s been nice to be together as a group through it all.”
Still, the loss weighs on her. “It’s heart-breaking to be starting over again at 73.”
Deb Morrison is among those moving away. She has lived in Fort Frances for more than 25 years. On Nov. 13, she moves to Heritage House in Rainy River. At first she turned down the out-of-town options, she said, but “it’s a lot of slim pickings in town.”
“I’m not happy on it, but I look at it, it’s temporary,” she said. “And I think what’s helping me is that it’s just temporary and I’ll be going home.”
Morrison remembers opening her door on the morning of the fire to “this roll of black smoke coming towards me.” She picked up her dog and went outside in her nightwear and bare feet. Neighbours provided her with a blanket and slippers while they waited in the early morning frost.
“I think we all came together as one being outside,” she said. “Looking out for one another to see if we all made it out or not.”
“Losing a friend was quite a shock for all of us,” Morrison said. “When we heard the news, I think most of our hearts broke.”
Jackie Garon is one resident who will be staying in Fort Frances.
Garon, who works in the laundry at the hospital, learned that her employer had helped her find a house in town.
“I hit it lucky,” she said. “I’m just waiting for the key.”
“It’s stressful, like you don’t know day-to-day,” she said.
Garon is also an exception in one important way: she has tenant insurance. Most tenants The Times has spoken to did not. DRRSB has stated that it strongly encourages tenants to take out a policy when they sign their lease, but it isn’t mandatory.
Six weeks after the fire, her insurance had not paid out. “My insurance will kick in later on, I hope,” she said.
In the meantime, she has applied for DRRSB’s start-up assistance and plans to start with bedding.
She also plans to ask community volunteer Melissa Pearson for help with the move. “Melissa’s wonderful. She does a lot for us,” Garon said.
“I think, honestly, with the community helping and everybody, I think we’ll all do good,” she said. “This could happen to anybody. … If it happened to somebody else, and if I could help, I would.”
Not everyone has a place lined up. Lorraine Friday, 68, moved into Rose Manor on Nov. 14, 2025, after a period of homelessness. She has been offered units in Rainy River and Atikokan, but wants to stay near her doctors in Fort Frances.
She has applied for housing in Thunder Bay and, with Pearson’s help, for Aboriginal housing. Her only other offer is space in a relative’s laundry room in Seine River.
Friday is one of a number of residents who held no tenant insurance. When tenants were given a deadline to clear their units, she said, she couldn’t afford movers or storage and ended up leaving her bed and couches behind.
“I don’t have a plan,” she told The Times last week. “It’s scary.”
For tenants like Friday, the community effort led by Pearson and Joanne Smith is filling some of the gaps. Their GoFundMe campaign aims to help tenants into safe housing. Donations go first toward deposits, moving costs and other expenses, then toward beds and furniture for tenants who lost everything. The campaign’s goal is $40,000. As of Nov. 10, 41 donors have raised just over $4,500.
The Window and Door Store has donated a storage unit for furniture and household items. Many tenants have no family to help them move, Pearson said.
Morrison and Garon both plan to go back to Rose Manor when it reopens. “All we want is to go home,” Morrison said. She knows it could be this time next year, but remains hopefully that it will be sooner.
Until then, the friends they have made in the past six weeks will be only a phone call or a video chat away, she said.
“It’s getting to know your neighbours, becoming your friends,” she said. “If you didn’t know them before, just as your neighbours, now they’ve become your friends. And I think that helps too.”
How to help:
- Donate: gofundme.com/f/help-our-rose-manor-neighbours-get-back-on-their-feet. Money goes first to deposits and moving costs, then to beds and furniture.
- Furniture and household items: clean, gently used items in good working order. Contact Melissa Pearson at: 807-275-6439 or Joanne Smith at: 204-880-3636, by phone, text or Facebook, or email: communitysupportff@gmail.com. Smaller items can be picked up; larger pieces are collected by appointment.
- Moving help: many tenants have no family to help them move. Offer a truck or a hand through Pearson or Smith.
- Rentals: landlords with a studio or one-bedroom unit in Fort Frances can contact DRRSB at 807-274-5349.
