New partnership prepares First Nations firefighters for future wildfire seasons

By Carrie Ivardi, Local Journalism Initiative Reporter, NWOnewswatch.com GULL BAY — When a number of First Nations communities in the region were directly affected by wildland fires this summer and the Ministry of Natural Resources was already stretched thin, 35 firefighters were available from a relatively new partnership between the Indigenous Police Chiefs of Ontario, the RCMP and Indigenous Services Canada. These firefighters were trained at Kab Lake Lodge during four training sessions between November 2025 and October of this year, according to Ashley Russell-Taylor, chief operations officer for the Indigenous Police Chiefs of Ontario (IPCO). Russell-Taylor and representatives from IPCO, Indigenous Services Canada and the RCMP were in Kab Lake during the first week of October to observe a week of fall training of First Nations firefighters in preparation…

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