{"id":107279,"date":"2026-07-27T16:50:48","date_gmt":"2026-07-27T20:50:48","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/theturtleislandnews.com\/?p=107279"},"modified":"2026-07-27T16:50:48","modified_gmt":"2026-07-27T20:50:48","slug":"first-nation-chiefs-want-public-inquiry-and-changes-to-ministry-of-natural-resources-after-wildfire-response","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/theturtleislandnews.com\/index.php\/2026\/07\/27\/first-nation-chiefs-want-public-inquiry-and-changes-to-ministry-of-natural-resources-after-wildfire-response\/","title":{"rendered":"First Nation Chiefs want public inquiry and changes to Ministry of Natural Resources after wildfire response"},"content":{"rendered":"

By Alex Murray Writer First Nations chiefs from across northwestern Ontario came together in Thunder Bay to call for a public inquiry into the Doug Ford government\u2019s emergency response to the region\u2019s wildfires. \u201cThe lack of communication and evacuation support should horrify all Canadians. Our community was on its own,\u201d said Gull Bay First Nation Chief Wilfred King, who organized the press conference hosted by Nishnawbe Aski Nation (NAN) on Tuesday (July 21). \u201cIn the year 2026, how could this happen? More importantly, how do we make sure this never happens again? That\u2019s what an inquiry must answer,\u201d King, who declared a state of emergency for his community on July 14, added. The inquiry would look at issues with operational decision-making, emergency coordination, communication with First Nations, resource allocation, and… <\/p>\n

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By Alex Murray Writer First Nations chiefs from across northwestern Ontario came together in Thunder Bay to call for a public inquiry into the Doug Ford government\u2019s emergency response to the region\u2019s wildfires. \u201cThe lack of communication and evacuation support should horrify all Canadians. Our community was on its own,\u201d said Gull Bay First Nation Chief Wilfred King, who organized the press conference hosted by Nishnawbe Aski Nation (NAN) on Tuesday (July 21). \u201cIn the year 2026, how could this happen? More importantly, how do we make sure this never happens again? That\u2019s what an inquiry must answer,\u201d King, who declared a state of emergency for his community on July 14, added. The inquiry would look at issues with operational decision-making, emergency coordination, communication with First Nations, resource allocation, and... <\/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],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-107279","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","hentry","category-national-news","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":"\nFirst Nation Chiefs want public inquiry and changes to Ministry of Natural Resources after 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\/27\/first-nation-chiefs-want-public-inquiry-and-changes-to-ministry-of-natural-resources-after-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 Chiefs want public inquiry and changes to Ministry of Natural Resources after wildfire response - The Turtle Island News\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:description\" content=\"By Alex Murray Writer First Nations chiefs from across northwestern Ontario came together in Thunder Bay to call for a public inquiry into the Doug Ford government\u2019s emergency response to the region\u2019s wildfires. \u201cThe lack of communication and evacuation support should horrify all Canadians. Our community was on its own,\u201d said Gull Bay First Nation Chief Wilfred King, who organized the press conference hosted by Nishnawbe Aski Nation (NAN) on Tuesday (July 21). \u201cIn the year 2026, how could this happen? More importantly, how do we make sure this never happens again? That\u2019s what an inquiry must answer,\u201d King, who declared a state of emergency for his community on July 14, added. The inquiry would look at issues with operational decision-making, emergency coordination, communication with First Nations, resource allocation, and\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:url\" content=\"https:\/\/theturtleislandnews.com\/index.php\/2026\/07\/27\/first-nation-chiefs-want-public-inquiry-and-changes-to-ministry-of-natural-resources-after-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=\"2026-07-27T20:50:48+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=\"7 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\\\/27\\\/first-nation-chiefs-want-public-inquiry-and-changes-to-ministry-of-natural-resources-after-wildfire-response\\\/#article\",\"isPartOf\":{\"@id\":\"https:\\\/\\\/theturtleislandnews.com\\\/index.php\\\/2026\\\/07\\\/27\\\/first-nation-chiefs-want-public-inquiry-and-changes-to-ministry-of-natural-resources-after-wildfire-response\\\/\"},\"author\":{\"name\":\"Lynda Powless\",\"@id\":\"https:\\\/\\\/theturtleislandnews.com\\\/#\\\/schema\\\/person\\\/7b188fd7503577895ef8b306988cd458\"},\"headline\":\"First Nation Chiefs want public inquiry and changes to Ministry of Natural Resources after wildfire response\",\"datePublished\":\"2026-07-27T20:50:48+00:00\",\"mainEntityOfPage\":{\"@id\":\"https:\\\/\\\/theturtleislandnews.com\\\/index.php\\\/2026\\\/07\\\/27\\\/first-nation-chiefs-want-public-inquiry-and-changes-to-ministry-of-natural-resources-after-wildfire-response\\\/\"},\"wordCount\":1407,\"publisher\":{\"@id\":\"https:\\\/\\\/theturtleislandnews.com\\\/#organization\"},\"articleSection\":[\"National News\"],\"inLanguage\":\"en-CA\"},{\"@type\":\"WebPage\",\"@id\":\"https:\\\/\\\/theturtleislandnews.com\\\/index.php\\\/2026\\\/07\\\/27\\\/first-nation-chiefs-want-public-inquiry-and-changes-to-ministry-of-natural-resources-after-wildfire-response\\\/\",\"url\":\"https:\\\/\\\/theturtleislandnews.com\\\/index.php\\\/2026\\\/07\\\/27\\\/first-nation-chiefs-want-public-inquiry-and-changes-to-ministry-of-natural-resources-after-wildfire-response\\\/\",\"name\":\"First Nation Chiefs want public inquiry and changes to Ministry of Natural Resources after wildfire response - 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