{"id":107065,"date":"2026-07-21T08:27:52","date_gmt":"2026-07-21T12:27:52","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/theturtleislandnews.com\/?p=107065"},"modified":"2026-07-21T08:27:52","modified_gmt":"2026-07-21T12:27:52","slug":"fort-william-gardens-sits-vacant-despite-opening-doors-to-evacuees","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/theturtleislandnews.com\/index.php\/2026\/07\/21\/fort-william-gardens-sits-vacant-despite-opening-doors-to-evacuees\/","title":{"rendered":"Fort William Gardens sits vacant despite opening doors to evacuees"},"content":{"rendered":"<p>By Clint Fleury, Local Journalism Initiative Reporter, TBnewswatch.com THUNDER BAY \u2013 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\u2019t required to be filled, but it\u2019s 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&#8230; <\/p>\n<div class=\"pmpro\">\n<div class=\"pmpro_card pmpro_content_message\">\n<div class=\"pmpro_card_content\">This content is for Yearly Subscription, Yearly Subscription &#8211; Corporate, Print Subscription Only, Canada Print and Online, and USA Print and Online members only.<br \/><a href=\"http:\/\/theturtleislandnews.com\/wp-login.php?action=register\">Register<\/a><\/div>\n<div class=\"pmpro_card_actions pmpro_font-medium\">Already a member? <a href=\"https:\/\/theturtleislandnews.com\/wp-login.php?redirect_to=https%3A%2F%2Ftheturtleislandnews.com%2Findex.php%2F2026%2F07%2F21%2Ffort-william-gardens-sits-vacant-despite-opening-doors-to-evacuees%2F\">Log in here<\/a><\/div>\n<\/div>\n<\/div>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"<p>By Clint Fleury, Local Journalism Initiative Reporter, TBnewswatch.com THUNDER BAY \u2013 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\u2019t required to be filled, but it\u2019s 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... <\/p>\n<div class=\"pmpro\"><div class=\"pmpro_card pmpro_content_message\"><div class=\"pmpro_card_content\">This content is for Yearly Subscription, Yearly Subscription - Corporate, Print Subscription Only, Canada Print and Online, and USA Print and Online members only.<br \/><a href=\"http:\/\/theturtleislandnews.com\/wp-login.php?action=register\">Register<\/a><\/div><div class=\"pmpro_card_actions pmpro_font-medium\">Already a member? <a href=\"https:\/\/theturtleislandnews.com\/wp-login.php?redirect_to=https%3A%2F%2Ftheturtleislandnews.com%2Findex.php%2F2026%2F07%2F21%2Ffort-william-gardens-sits-vacant-despite-opening-doors-to-evacuees%2F\">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-107065","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":"<!-- This site is optimized with the Yoast SEO plugin v28.0 - https:\/\/yoast.com\/product\/yoast-seo-wordpress\/ -->\n<title>Fort William Gardens sits vacant despite opening doors to evacuees - 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\/21\/fort-william-gardens-sits-vacant-despite-opening-doors-to-evacuees\/\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:locale\" content=\"en_US\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:type\" content=\"article\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:title\" content=\"Fort William Gardens sits vacant despite opening doors to evacuees - The Turtle Island News\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:description\" content=\"By Clint Fleury, Local Journalism Initiative Reporter, TBnewswatch.com THUNDER BAY \u2013 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\u2019t required to be filled, but it\u2019s 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\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:url\" content=\"https:\/\/theturtleislandnews.com\/index.php\/2026\/07\/21\/fort-william-gardens-sits-vacant-despite-opening-doors-to-evacuees\/\" \/>\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=\"2026-07-21T12:27:52+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\\\/21\\\/fort-william-gardens-sits-vacant-despite-opening-doors-to-evacuees\\\/#article\",\"isPartOf\":{\"@id\":\"https:\\\/\\\/theturtleislandnews.com\\\/index.php\\\/2026\\\/07\\\/21\\\/fort-william-gardens-sits-vacant-despite-opening-doors-to-evacuees\\\/\"},\"author\":{\"name\":\"Lynda Powless\",\"@id\":\"https:\\\/\\\/theturtleislandnews.com\\\/#\\\/schema\\\/person\\\/7b188fd7503577895ef8b306988cd458\"},\"headline\":\"Fort William Gardens sits vacant despite opening doors to evacuees\",\"datePublished\":\"2026-07-21T12:27:52+00:00\",\"mainEntityOfPage\":{\"@id\":\"https:\\\/\\\/theturtleislandnews.com\\\/index.php\\\/2026\\\/07\\\/21\\\/fort-william-gardens-sits-vacant-despite-opening-doors-to-evacuees\\\/\"},\"wordCount\":593,\"publisher\":{\"@id\":\"https:\\\/\\\/theturtleislandnews.com\\\/#organization\"},\"articleSection\":[\"National News\",\"ticker\"],\"inLanguage\":\"en-CA\"},{\"@type\":\"WebPage\",\"@id\":\"https:\\\/\\\/theturtleislandnews.com\\\/index.php\\\/2026\\\/07\\\/21\\\/fort-william-gardens-sits-vacant-despite-opening-doors-to-evacuees\\\/\",\"url\":\"https:\\\/\\\/theturtleislandnews.com\\\/index.php\\\/2026\\\/07\\\/21\\\/fort-william-gardens-sits-vacant-despite-opening-doors-to-evacuees\\\/\",\"name\":\"Fort William Gardens sits vacant despite opening doors to evacuees - 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