{"id":106790,"date":"2026-07-15T08:28:27","date_gmt":"2026-07-15T12:28:27","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/theturtleislandnews.com\/?p=106790"},"modified":"2026-07-15T08:29:00","modified_gmt":"2026-07-15T12:29:00","slug":"whitesand-first-nation-members-in-city-after-sudden-evacuation","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/theturtleislandnews.com\/index.php\/2026\/07\/15\/whitesand-first-nation-members-in-city-after-sudden-evacuation\/","title":{"rendered":"Whitesand First Nation members in city after sudden evacuation"},"content":{"rendered":"

By Mike Stimpson, Local Journalism Initiative Reporter, SNnewswatch.com THUNDER BAY \u2014 Whitesand First Nation\u2019s Steve Gustafson didn\u2019t have much time on Monday night to prepare for his trip to the city. \u201cEarlier in the day I saw nothing but smoke, cloudy and everything until about 6 o\u2019clock in the evening we seen a posting from chief and council about getting ready to evacuate,\u201d Gustafson told Newswatch Tuesday morning. He said officials with the First Nation, near Armstrong, told members they would need ID, clothes and medicine. \u201cAnd then all of a sudden, 10:30 in the evening, that’s when I seen that (evacuation) posting.\u201d While some came to Thunder Bay by bus, Gustafson gassed up his own vehicle in Armstrong and drove with family to the city. \u201cI just grabbed some… <\/p>\n

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By Mike Stimpson, Local Journalism Initiative Reporter, SNnewswatch.com THUNDER BAY \u2014 Whitesand First Nation\u2019s Steve Gustafson didn\u2019t have much time on Monday night to prepare for his trip to the city. \u201cEarlier in the day I saw nothing but smoke, cloudy and everything until about 6 o\u2019clock in the evening we seen a posting from chief and council about getting ready to evacuate,\u201d Gustafson told Newswatch Tuesday morning. He said officials with the First Nation, near Armstrong, told members they would need ID, clothes and medicine. \u201cAnd then all of a sudden, 10:30 in the evening, that’s when I seen that (evacuation) posting.\u201d While some came to Thunder Bay by bus, Gustafson gassed up his own vehicle in Armstrong and drove with family to the city. \u201cI just grabbed some... <\/p>\n

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Log in here<\/a><\/div><\/div><\/div>","protected":false},"author":101363,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"pmpro_default_level":"","footnotes":""},"categories":[8,13],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-106790","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","hentry","category-national-news","category-ticker","pmpro-level-required","pmpro-level-3","pmpro-level-2","pmpro-level-5","pmpro-level-4","pmpro-level-6","pmpro-level-7","pmpro-level-8","pmpro-no-access"],"yoast_head":"\nWhitesand First Nation members in city after sudden evacuation - The Turtle Island News<\/title>\n<meta name=\"robots\" content=\"index, follow, max-snippet:-1, max-image-preview:large, max-video-preview:-1\" \/>\n<link rel=\"canonical\" href=\"https:\/\/theturtleislandnews.com\/index.php\/2026\/07\/15\/whitesand-first-nation-members-in-city-after-sudden-evacuation\/\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:locale\" content=\"en_US\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:type\" content=\"article\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:title\" content=\"Whitesand First Nation members in city after sudden evacuation - The Turtle Island News\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:description\" content=\"By Mike Stimpson, Local Journalism Initiative Reporter, SNnewswatch.com THUNDER BAY \u2014 Whitesand First Nation\u2019s Steve Gustafson didn\u2019t have much time on Monday night to prepare for his trip to the city. \u201cEarlier in the day I saw nothing but smoke, cloudy and everything until about 6 o\u2019clock in the evening we seen a posting from chief and council about getting ready to evacuate,\u201d Gustafson told Newswatch Tuesday morning. He said officials with the First Nation, near Armstrong, told members they would need ID, clothes and medicine. \u201cAnd then all of a sudden, 10:30 in the evening, that’s when I seen that (evacuation) posting.\u201d While some came to Thunder Bay by bus, Gustafson gassed up his own vehicle in Armstrong and drove with family to the city. \u201cI just grabbed some\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:url\" content=\"https:\/\/theturtleislandnews.com\/index.php\/2026\/07\/15\/whitesand-first-nation-members-in-city-after-sudden-evacuation\/\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:site_name\" content=\"The Turtle Island News\" \/>\n<meta property=\"article:publisher\" content=\"https:\/\/www.facebook.com\/TurtleIslandNews\/\" \/>\n<meta property=\"article:published_time\" content=\"2026-07-15T12:28:27+00:00\" \/>\n<meta property=\"article:modified_time\" content=\"2026-07-15T12:29:00+00:00\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:image\" content=\"https:\/\/theturtleislandnews.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2016\/01\/facebooklogo.jpg\" \/>\n\t<meta property=\"og:image:width\" content=\"725\" \/>\n\t<meta property=\"og:image:height\" content=\"483\" \/>\n\t<meta property=\"og:image:type\" content=\"image\/jpeg\" \/>\n<meta name=\"author\" content=\"Lynda Powless\" \/>\n<meta name=\"twitter:card\" content=\"summary_large_image\" \/>\n<meta name=\"twitter:creator\" content=\"@newsattheturtle\" \/>\n<meta name=\"twitter:site\" content=\"@newsattheturtle\" \/>\n<meta name=\"twitter:label1\" content=\"Written by\" \/>\n\t<meta name=\"twitter:data1\" content=\"Lynda Powless\" \/>\n\t<meta name=\"twitter:label2\" content=\"Est. reading time\" \/>\n\t<meta name=\"twitter:data2\" content=\"3 minutes\" \/>\n<script type=\"application\/ld+json\" class=\"yoast-schema-graph\">{\"@context\":\"https:\\\/\\\/schema.org\",\"@graph\":[{\"@type\":\"Article\",\"@id\":\"https:\\\/\\\/theturtleislandnews.com\\\/index.php\\\/2026\\\/07\\\/15\\\/whitesand-first-nation-members-in-city-after-sudden-evacuation\\\/#article\",\"isPartOf\":{\"@id\":\"https:\\\/\\\/theturtleislandnews.com\\\/index.php\\\/2026\\\/07\\\/15\\\/whitesand-first-nation-members-in-city-after-sudden-evacuation\\\/\"},\"author\":{\"name\":\"Lynda Powless\",\"@id\":\"https:\\\/\\\/theturtleislandnews.com\\\/#\\\/schema\\\/person\\\/7b188fd7503577895ef8b306988cd458\"},\"headline\":\"Whitesand First Nation members in city after sudden evacuation\",\"datePublished\":\"2026-07-15T12:28:27+00:00\",\"dateModified\":\"2026-07-15T12:29:00+00:00\",\"mainEntityOfPage\":{\"@id\":\"https:\\\/\\\/theturtleislandnews.com\\\/index.php\\\/2026\\\/07\\\/15\\\/whitesand-first-nation-members-in-city-after-sudden-evacuation\\\/\"},\"wordCount\":560,\"publisher\":{\"@id\":\"https:\\\/\\\/theturtleislandnews.com\\\/#organization\"},\"articleSection\":[\"National News\",\"ticker\"],\"inLanguage\":\"en-CA\"},{\"@type\":\"WebPage\",\"@id\":\"https:\\\/\\\/theturtleislandnews.com\\\/index.php\\\/2026\\\/07\\\/15\\\/whitesand-first-nation-members-in-city-after-sudden-evacuation\\\/\",\"url\":\"https:\\\/\\\/theturtleislandnews.com\\\/index.php\\\/2026\\\/07\\\/15\\\/whitesand-first-nation-members-in-city-after-sudden-evacuation\\\/\",\"name\":\"Whitesand First Nation members in city after sudden evacuation - 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