{"id":107087,"date":"2026-07-21T16:22:30","date_gmt":"2026-07-21T20:22:30","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/theturtleislandnews.com\/?p=107087"},"modified":"2026-07-21T16:22:30","modified_gmt":"2026-07-21T20:22:30","slug":"first-nation-leaders-call-for-public-inquiry-into-ontario-wildfire-response","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/theturtleislandnews.com\/index.php\/2026\/07\/21\/first-nation-leaders-call-for-public-inquiry-into-ontario-wildfire-response\/","title":{"rendered":"First Nation leaders call for public inquiry into Ontario wildfire response"},"content":{"rendered":"<p>By Jordan Omstead First Nation leaders are calling for a public inquiry into the Ontario wildfire response after they say communities were left to evacuate without help from the province and some residents narrowly avoided the encroaching flames. The chief of Gull Bay First Nation says an inquiry should investigate a number of issues such as the government&#8217;s emergency co-ordination with First Nations, evacuation planning and overall provincial preparedness. Chief Wilfred King says the lack of communication and evacuation support should &#8220;horrify all Canadians.&#8221; Record-breaking wildfires burning across northern Ontario have prompted evacuations in at least 12 First Nations and forced more than 1,800 people to flee their homes. Several communities, including Whitewater Lake and Whitesand, have reported widespread destruction. Premier Doug Ford says his government has done &#8220;everything we&#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%2Ffirst-nation-leaders-call-for-public-inquiry-into-ontario-wildfire-response%2F\">Log in here<\/a><\/div>\n<\/div>\n<\/div>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"<p>By Jordan Omstead First Nation leaders are calling for a public inquiry into the Ontario wildfire response after they say communities were left to evacuate without help from the province and some residents narrowly avoided the encroaching flames. The chief of Gull Bay First Nation says an inquiry should investigate a number of issues such as the government&#8217;s emergency co-ordination with First Nations, evacuation planning and overall provincial preparedness. Chief Wilfred King says the lack of communication and evacuation support should &#8220;horrify all Canadians.&#8221; Record-breaking wildfires burning across northern Ontario have prompted evacuations in at least 12 First Nations and forced more than 1,800 people to flee their homes. Several communities, including Whitewater Lake and Whitesand, have reported widespread destruction. Premier Doug Ford says his government has done &#8220;everything we... <\/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%2Ffirst-nation-leaders-call-for-public-inquiry-into-ontario-wildfire-response%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-107087","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>First Nation leaders call for public inquiry into Ontario wildfire response - 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\/first-nation-leaders-call-for-public-inquiry-into-ontario-wildfire-response\/\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:locale\" content=\"en_US\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:type\" content=\"article\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:title\" content=\"First Nation leaders call for public inquiry into Ontario wildfire response - The Turtle Island News\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:description\" content=\"By Jordan Omstead First Nation leaders are calling for a public inquiry into the Ontario wildfire response after they say communities were left to evacuate without help from the province and some residents narrowly avoided the encroaching flames. The chief of Gull Bay First Nation says an inquiry should investigate a number of issues such as the government&#8217;s emergency co-ordination with First Nations, evacuation planning and overall provincial preparedness. Chief Wilfred King says the lack of communication and evacuation support should &#8220;horrify all Canadians.&#8221; Record-breaking wildfires burning across northern Ontario have prompted evacuations in at least 12 First Nations and forced more than 1,800 people to flee their homes. Several communities, including Whitewater Lake and Whitesand, have reported widespread destruction. Premier Doug Ford says his government has done &#8220;everything we\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:url\" content=\"https:\/\/theturtleislandnews.com\/index.php\/2026\/07\/21\/first-nation-leaders-call-for-public-inquiry-into-ontario-wildfire-response\/\" \/>\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=\"2026-07-21T20:22:30+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=\"1 minute\" \/>\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\\\/first-nation-leaders-call-for-public-inquiry-into-ontario-wildfire-response\\\/#article\",\"isPartOf\":{\"@id\":\"https:\\\/\\\/theturtleislandnews.com\\\/index.php\\\/2026\\\/07\\\/21\\\/first-nation-leaders-call-for-public-inquiry-into-ontario-wildfire-response\\\/\"},\"author\":{\"name\":\"Lynda Powless\",\"@id\":\"https:\\\/\\\/theturtleislandnews.com\\\/#\\\/schema\\\/person\\\/7b188fd7503577895ef8b306988cd458\"},\"headline\":\"First Nation leaders call for public inquiry into Ontario wildfire response\",\"datePublished\":\"2026-07-21T20:22:30+00:00\",\"mainEntityOfPage\":{\"@id\":\"https:\\\/\\\/theturtleislandnews.com\\\/index.php\\\/2026\\\/07\\\/21\\\/first-nation-leaders-call-for-public-inquiry-into-ontario-wildfire-response\\\/\"},\"wordCount\":157,\"publisher\":{\"@id\":\"https:\\\/\\\/theturtleislandnews.com\\\/#organization\"},\"articleSection\":[\"National News\",\"ticker\"],\"inLanguage\":\"en-CA\"},{\"@type\":\"WebPage\",\"@id\":\"https:\\\/\\\/theturtleislandnews.com\\\/index.php\\\/2026\\\/07\\\/21\\\/first-nation-leaders-call-for-public-inquiry-into-ontario-wildfire-response\\\/\",\"url\":\"https:\\\/\\\/theturtleislandnews.com\\\/index.php\\\/2026\\\/07\\\/21\\\/first-nation-leaders-call-for-public-inquiry-into-ontario-wildfire-response\\\/\",\"name\":\"First Nation leaders call for public inquiry into Ontario wildfire response - 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