Fort William Gardens sits vacant despite opening doors to evacuees
By Clint Fleury, Local Journalism Initiative Reporter, TBnewswatch.com THUNDER BAY – There are 157 empty cots set up at the Fort William Gardens. No one had walked into the evacuation centre to register yet when Premier Doug Ford and Minister of Emergency Preparedness and Response Jill Dunlop were there Saturday, she told reporters at a Toronto press conference Monday. Monday afternoon, Newswatch was informed by site commander Jason Kay, with the Loomex Group, that evacuees have still not registered at the building. He said that, at the moment, the facility isn’t required to be filled, but it’s open to all evacuees affected by wildfires. The evacuation centre was set up for the Namaygoosisagagun (Collins) First Nation and Armstrong evacuees, Dunlop said. Those communities evacuated on Monday, July 13, but the...
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Cote First Nation holds community camp at Madge Lake
By Bastien MacLean, Local Journalism Initiative Reporter, Kamsack Times Band members were invited to camp out at Elk and Moose campsites at Madge Lake, as the Cote First Nation held a community camp. “We’ve been running it for the last 30 plus years and it’s always a good time for our community to come out,” said Judge Cote, a councillor at Cote First Nation. “Everyone can have a great time, have some food, have some entertainment.” “Definitely with the weather we’ve been having, and the washouts, it can definitely dampen some spirits out there. Events like this, it’s nice to just get away from that kind of situation and forget some of our problems for a week, come out and have fun and just enjoy ourselves”. Vendors were on site,...
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Construction begins on $4B Enbridge natural gas pipeline expansion in B.C.
Enbridge Inc. has broken ground on a $4-billion natural gas pipeline expansion in British Columbia. The federal government approved the Sunrise Expansion Program in April. The project aims to add another 300 million cubic feet per day of transportation capacity to the province’s natural gas transmission system. The Sunrise project is using Canadian melted and poured steel supplied by InterPro Pipe and Steel in Saskatchewan. The federal government says Sunrise will help ensure natural gas supplies are available to liquefied natural gas export facilities on the West Coast while meeting local needs. Enbridge holds a 30 per cent stake in the Woodfibre LNG export terminal under construction in Squamish, B.C. The Sunrise expansion will add about 140 kilometres of new pipe to Enbridge’s existing 2,900-kilometre Westcoast Pipeline. Enbridge plans to...
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Quebec and Ottawa agree to streamline, speed environmental assessments
By Stéphane Blais Quebec and Ottawa say a new agreement will streamline the environmental assessment process for major infrastructure and resource development projects. Pascale Déry, provincial environment minister, and Joël Lightbound, Quebec Lieutenant and federal minister of government transformation, public works and procurement, made the joint announcement Monday. The two governments say they have reached an agreement in principle that aims to expedite environmental assessments for major projects such as mines, ports and pipelines. The agreement will ensure projects that fall under Quebec’s jurisdiction are subject only to the province’s evaluation. Déry said this agreement will eliminate duplicate assessments. “We need to strengthen our economy, diversify our markets, and that means developing our projects more efficiently and quickly,” she said. Residents and groups have 21 days to voice their concerns...
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Touring Fort Simpson’s changed landscape with Dehcho Grand Chief
By Claire McFarlane, Local Journalism Initiative Reporter, Cabin Radio As village residents return home, Grand Chief Norwegian offered advice about grief, returning to the community and to the land. A Fort Simpson resident, Norwegian stayed in the village during the nearly three-week long evacuation to monitor wildfires across the region and provide support and comfort to community members. He described sending photos to evacuees of their homes to reassure them they were safe, and he called some of the firefighting efforts he witnessed a “war.” “You’re seeing these incredible burns that are taking place – just Mother Nature at work – and it was just a powerful feeling,” said Norwegian. “You just feel so minute when you see something like that unfolding, when you compare the power that you have,...
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Six whales moved out of Marineland in ‘complex’ operation, headed to U.S. aquariums
By Liam Casey Marineland’s whales are on the move. The closed Niagara Falls, Ont., tourist attraction shipped six belugas on Monday to aquariums in the United States, in what the park called a major milestone in a complex process months in the making. Andrew Burns, Marineland’s external legal counsel, called the move “unprecedented.” “It’s huge. This has required the … sudden and critical attention of all of the leading marine mammal aquariums on the planet and a complex, co-ordinated response involving dozens and dozens of people putting all their time and attention into the logistics, the care, the management, the financing of all this in an extremely accelerated time frame,” he said in an interview Monday. The park tried last year to ship its complement of 30 belugas and four...
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This is Ontario’s worst wildfire season, early estimates suggest. It’s not over yet.
By Jordan Omstead Wildfires raging in northern Ontario appear to have pushed the province to its worst wildfire season on record. The province’s latest numbers suggest fires have burned through more than 7,250 square kilometres of Ontario’s forest, surpassing the previous record set in 2021. The preliminary estimate is likely to be revised once officials get a closer look at the devastation, but it stands as a sign of how quickly the season has worsened. The vast majority of that fire has burned in the past 10 days, on the back of severe thunderstorms and a scorching heat wave around Thunder Bay where temperatures soared to around 15 degrees above seasonal. Climate change, driven by the burning of fossil fuels, is making wildfire seasons longer and more intense across Canada....
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Trade, major projects expected to top agenda as premiers meet in P.E.I.
By Eli Ridder Domestic trade and major projects will be on the agenda as Canada’s premiers gather Tuesday in Prince Edward Island for a three-day meeting coloured by a renewed tariff threat from U.S. President Donald Trump. The annual summer gathering of provincial and territorial leaders will culminate with Prime Minister Mark Carney joining the discussion Thursday. The premiers will also meet with Indigenous leaders later Tuesday. Key issues among the provinces have included efforts to cut down any remaining barriers to internal trade and advocating for big infrastructure projects that could bring investment and jobs to their regions. But there’s also fresh economic uncertainty after Trump on Monday signed an executive order to impose 50 per cent tariffs on certain Canadian products within 30 days. Senior White House officials...
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Construction begins on $4B Enbridge natural gas pipeline expansion in B.C.
Enbridge Inc. has broken ground on a $4-billion natural gas pipeline expansion in British Columbia. The federal government approved the Sunrise Expansion Program in April. The project aims to add another 300 million cubic feet per day of transportation capacity to the province’s natural gas transmission system. The Sunrise project is using Canadian melted and poured steel supplied by InterPro Pipe and Steel in Saskatchewan. The federal government says Sunrise will help ensure natural gas supplies are available to liquefied natural gas export facilities on the West Coast while meeting local needs. Enbridge holds a 30 per cent stake in the Woodfibre LNG export terminal under construction in Squamish, B.C. The Sunrise expansion will add about 140 kilometres of new pipe to Enbridge’s existing 2,900-kilometre Westcoast Pipeline. Enbridge plans to...
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Around 1,800 people have fled wildfires as Ontario weighs further evacuations: Ford
By Jordan Omstead Around 1,800 people have fled their communities due to wildfires raging across northern Ontario, Premier Doug Ford said Monday, as officials consider further evacuations. Fires have destroyed communities, prompted numerous evacuation orders and filled the skies across Ontario and beyond with noxious smoke. Evacuees have fanned out to host cities across the province, including Thunder Bay, Toronto, Sudbury and Niagara Falls. “Thirteen communities have been evacuated or are in the process of evacuating, with the decision still pending on one additional community,” Ford said. At least 500 people were sheltering in Thunder Bay over the weekend, which city officials described as a conservative estimate. The fire chief said most evacuees were hosted by First Nation organizations or found available hotel space themselves. Inside a Thunder Bay arena...
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Around 1,800 people have fled wildfires as Ontario mulls further evacuations: Ford
Around 1,800 people have fled their communities due to wildfires raging across northern Ontario, Premier Doug Ford said Monday, as officials consider further evacuations. Fires have destroyed communities, prompted numerous evacuation orders and filled the skies across Ontario and beyond with noxious smoke. Evacuees have fanned out to host cities across the province, including Thunder Bay, Toronto, Sudbury and Niagara Falls. “Thirteen communities have been evacuated or are in the process of evacuating, with the decision still pending on one additional community,” Ford said. Recent rain helped to temper fire activity over the weekend, but officials warned the hazard remained high as another First Nation reported widespread destruction. Chief Pauline Drake of Whitewater Lake First Nation said Sunday that a wildfire had destroyed much of the remote community about 250...
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Trump threatens increased tariffs on Canada over wildfire smoke in U.S. cities
By Kelly Geraldine Malone President Donald Trump threatened Friday to increase tariffs on Canada due to smoke from wildfires in Ontario blanketing parts of the United States as Republican lawmakers escalated their complaints about air quality. “We are holding Canada responsible for the fact that they are not properly maintaining their Forests, and Brush therein, and the United States is being unnecessarily invaded by filthy, polluted, and unhealthy air, the quality of which is dangerous, and totally unacceptable!” Trump posted on social media. Wildfires are ripping through northwestern Ontario, forcing residents in several First Nations communities to evacuate. One remote community has been destroyed, with residents forced to flee in small boats. Smoke from those fires is triggering air quality warnings across Ontario and in multiple states, including Michigan, Ohio,...
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What is an Urban Reserve? Edmonton’s Plan to Open New Economic Corridors
By Troy Dumont, Local Journalism Initiative Reporter, Alberta Native News Urban reserves are not a new idea in Canada, but the term may still be unfamiliar to many Albertans. An urban reserve is reserve land located within or next to an urban center. In many cases, these reserves are created when First Nationsuse settlement funds from specific claims or Treaty Land Entitlement agreements to purchase land. That land can then move through the federal Addition-to-Reserve process, where it may be added to a First Nation’s reserve land base. Indigenous Services Canada outlines the process on its urban reserves page at sac-isc.gc.ca. The concept has a long history in Canada. The first formal example, and the most often cited, is Muskeg Lake Cree Nation’s urban reserve in Saskatoon, established in 1988...
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Abandoned on the road to the Ring of Fire
By Jon Thompson, Local Journalism Initiative Reporter, Ricochet Wet ash is falling through a slight mist over the fly-in northern Ontario community of Eabametoong (Fort Hope First Nation), 370 kilometres northeast of Thunder Bay. On Wednesday, a high column of smoke plumed over the lake. By Friday, Chief Sol Atlookan found fires surrounding his community, and now they’re burning right across the bay. “It doesn’t matter where the wind’s coming from,” Atlookan says. “If it comes from the east, from the west, we’re still going to be smoked out. A lot of people are very nervous, of course. At this point in time, getting us out doesn’t seem to be a high priority.” Saturday marked the third day Eabametoong’s elders and vulnerable have waited for evacuation as the smoke has...
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Ontario expanding emergency message system as nearly 200 wildfires rage
Ontario is giving local authorities access to Canada’s national public alerting system as wildfires continue to burn across the province and prompt evacuations. Emergency Preparedness Minister Jill Dunlop said Sunday that mayors, First Nations chiefs, police chiefs and other government and emergency management officials can now request that Alert Ready messages be sent to residents via television, radio and mobile devices. The Alert Ready system is used nationwide to alert the public to emergencies such as tornadoes, wildfires and Amber Alerts. In a letter to Ontario’s heads of council, Dunlop said access to the system is being expanded because of this year’s significant wildfire season and that Alert Ready messages can be sent for situations that present a threat to life or public safety. Nearly 200 active wildfires are raging...
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More people flee fires, destruction in northern Ontario as blazes rage across Canada
By Kathryn Mannie Another Ontario First Nation was razed by fire and more people fled their northern communities over the weekend as Prime Minister Mark Carney said more than 5,000 firefighters were battling blazes across the country. Carney said he visited federal workers in Ottawa on Sunday morning who are helping with wildfire response efforts in northwestern Ontario and other provinces. Extreme heat waves and dry conditions have made this year “one of the most intense wildfire seasons in Canadian history,” the prime minister said in a social media post. Nearly 1,000 wildfires are blazing from coast to coast and almost 200 of them are in northern Ontario, causing more destruction. Chief Pauline Drake of Whitewater Lake First Nation said Sunday that a wildfire destroyed much of the remote community...
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Tsleil-Waututh Nation sees early success after finishing shoreline restoration project
By Abby Luciano, Local Journalism Initiative Reporter, North Shore News Another shoreline restoration project led by the səlilwətaɬ (Tsleil-Waututh Nation) is in the books, and it’s already showing signs of success. The Nation just wrapped up work on roughly 500 metres of shoreline from the western boundary of their reserve land near Dollarton Highway up to the west bank of George Creek. The project was planned with nature-based solutions such as sand and gravel beach nourishment, rock walls below the shoreline and salt marsh plantings to help mitigate wave action and protect the shoreline against coastal erosion and flooding. Project lead Sarah Dal Santo said the hard work is paying off, with seaweed now establishing on rock headlands and otters, heron and deer returning. “There have been some very exciting...
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Close to 200 wildfires are active in northern Ontario, as communities evacuate
By David Augustine Nearly 200 wildfires are currently burning across Northern Ontario, with 57 said to be out of control. The majority of the fires are burning in the Northwest region. This comes as Northern Ontario communities prepare for further evacuations as officials warn increased wildfire activity and worsening smoke conditions could continue into the foreseeable future. Neskantaga First Nation is planning another evacuation flight today, with evacuees heading to Toronto as Thunder Bay faces limited hotel space. The Whitewater Lake First Nation reported widespread destruction, including homes, belongings and vital infrastructure, deepening concern and loss across remote communities. Crews say they will prioritize lives, property and critical infrastructure, while restricted fire zones and open-air burning bans remain until further notice across the northwest. Recent rain has slowed some blazes,...
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Government investigating CN’s actions after rail crew caught in wildfire
By Christopher Reynolds Federal authorities are looking into whether Canadian National Railway Co. broke the law after a crew had to be evacuated from a train engulfed in flames in northwestern Ontario. The government is “conducting followup oversight” to determine if CN failed to comply with rules under the Railway Safety Act, said Transport Canada spokesperson Hicham Ayoun. “Transport Canada will not hesitate to implement operational restrictions or protective measures when necessary,” he said in an email Friday. The department is also working with Employment and Social Development Canada to determine whether health and safety violations occurred, he said. The Transportation Safety Board said it was “gathering information” as well. “It’s too early to say what the next step will be,” said watchdog spokesperson Liam MacDonald in an email. A...
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Trump threatens increased tariffs on Canada over wildfire smoke in U.S. cities
President Donald Trump is threatening to increase tariffs on Canada due to smoke from wildfires in Ontario blanketing parts of the United States. Trump says on social media he is “holding Canada responsible” for not properly maintaining forested areas and that he will call Prime Minister Mark Carney to discuss the issue. He says Canada’s forest management is leaving the U.S. with unnecessary pollution and poor air quality that is “totally unacceptable.” He says it has become a yearly occurrence. Wildfires are ripping through northwestern Ontario, forcing residents in several First Nations communities to evacuate. One remote community has been destroyed, with residents forced to flee in small boats. This report by The Canadian Press was first published July 17, 2026. ...
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