{"id":107234,"date":"2026-07-24T10:59:22","date_gmt":"2026-07-24T14:59:22","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/theturtleislandnews.com\/?p=107234"},"modified":"2026-07-24T10:59:22","modified_gmt":"2026-07-24T14:59:22","slug":"chiefs-demand-public-inquiry-and-removal-of-mnr-leadership","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/theturtleislandnews.com\/index.php\/2026\/07\/24\/chiefs-demand-public-inquiry-and-removal-of-mnr-leadership\/","title":{"rendered":"Chiefs demand public inquiry and removal of MNR leadership"},"content":{"rendered":"<p>By Maya Ekman, Local Journalism Initiative Reporter, NWOnewswatch.com THUNDER BAY \u2013 The chiefs of First Nations directly impacted by the wildfire situation are calling for a public inquiry and the \u201cimmediate removal\u201d of the people leading the province&#8217;s response. After multiple First Nations self-evacuated, their chiefs say that they were repeatedly told by the Ministry of Natural Resources that they were not in any danger until the threat was imminent and had reached their community. They want Chris Cuthbertson, the MNR&#8217;s director for aviation, forest fire and emergency services, as well as the assistant deputy minister on that file removed from those roles. \u201cWe want to counter some of the narrative that Ontario is promoting out there, that they are in regular contact with our leadership. They are not,\u201d said&#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%2F24%2Fchiefs-demand-public-inquiry-and-removal-of-mnr-leadership%2F\">Log in here<\/a><\/div>\n<\/div>\n<\/div>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"<p>By Maya Ekman, Local Journalism Initiative Reporter, NWOnewswatch.com THUNDER BAY \u2013 The chiefs of First Nations directly impacted by the wildfire situation are calling for a public inquiry and the \u201cimmediate removal\u201d of the people leading the province&#8217;s response. After multiple First Nations self-evacuated, their chiefs say that they were repeatedly told by the Ministry of Natural Resources that they were not in any danger until the threat was imminent and had reached their community. They want Chris Cuthbertson, the MNR&#8217;s director for aviation, forest fire and emergency services, as well as the assistant deputy minister on that file removed from those roles. \u201cWe want to counter some of the narrative that Ontario is promoting out there, that they are in regular contact with our leadership. They are not,\u201d said... <\/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%2F24%2Fchiefs-demand-public-inquiry-and-removal-of-mnr-leadership%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-107234","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 v28.1 - https:\/\/yoast.com\/product\/yoast-seo-wordpress\/ -->\n<title>Chiefs demand public inquiry and removal of MNR leadership - 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\/24\/chiefs-demand-public-inquiry-and-removal-of-mnr-leadership\/\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:locale\" content=\"en_US\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:type\" content=\"article\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:title\" content=\"Chiefs demand public inquiry and removal of MNR leadership - The Turtle Island News\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:description\" content=\"By Maya Ekman, Local Journalism Initiative Reporter, NWOnewswatch.com THUNDER BAY \u2013 The chiefs of First Nations directly impacted by the wildfire situation are calling for a public inquiry and the \u201cimmediate removal\u201d of the people leading the province&#8217;s response. After multiple First Nations self-evacuated, their chiefs say that they were repeatedly told by the Ministry of Natural Resources that they were not in any danger until the threat was imminent and had reached their community. They want Chris Cuthbertson, the MNR&#8217;s director for aviation, forest fire and emergency services, as well as the assistant deputy minister on that file removed from those roles. \u201cWe want to counter some of the narrative that Ontario is promoting out there, that they are in regular contact with our leadership. They are not,\u201d said\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:url\" content=\"https:\/\/theturtleislandnews.com\/index.php\/2026\/07\/24\/chiefs-demand-public-inquiry-and-removal-of-mnr-leadership\/\" \/>\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=\"2026-07-24T14:59:22+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=\"5 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\\\/24\\\/chiefs-demand-public-inquiry-and-removal-of-mnr-leadership\\\/#article\",\"isPartOf\":{\"@id\":\"https:\\\/\\\/theturtleislandnews.com\\\/index.php\\\/2026\\\/07\\\/24\\\/chiefs-demand-public-inquiry-and-removal-of-mnr-leadership\\\/\"},\"author\":{\"name\":\"Lynda Powless\",\"@id\":\"https:\\\/\\\/theturtleislandnews.com\\\/#\\\/schema\\\/person\\\/7b188fd7503577895ef8b306988cd458\"},\"headline\":\"Chiefs demand public inquiry and removal of MNR leadership\",\"datePublished\":\"2026-07-24T14:59:22+00:00\",\"mainEntityOfPage\":{\"@id\":\"https:\\\/\\\/theturtleislandnews.com\\\/index.php\\\/2026\\\/07\\\/24\\\/chiefs-demand-public-inquiry-and-removal-of-mnr-leadership\\\/\"},\"wordCount\":964,\"publisher\":{\"@id\":\"https:\\\/\\\/theturtleislandnews.com\\\/#organization\"},\"articleSection\":[\"National News\",\"ticker\"],\"inLanguage\":\"en-CA\"},{\"@type\":\"WebPage\",\"@id\":\"https:\\\/\\\/theturtleislandnews.com\\\/index.php\\\/2026\\\/07\\\/24\\\/chiefs-demand-public-inquiry-and-removal-of-mnr-leadership\\\/\",\"url\":\"https:\\\/\\\/theturtleislandnews.com\\\/index.php\\\/2026\\\/07\\\/24\\\/chiefs-demand-public-inquiry-and-removal-of-mnr-leadership\\\/\",\"name\":\"Chiefs demand public inquiry and removal of MNR leadership - 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