{"id":107509,"date":"2026-08-04T10:29:03","date_gmt":"2026-08-04T14:29:03","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/theturtleislandnews.com\/?p=107509"},"modified":"2026-08-04T10:29:51","modified_gmt":"2026-08-04T14:29:51","slug":"ford-government-wont-commit-to-forest-fire-inquiry-as-chiefs-demand-change-2","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/theturtleislandnews.com\/index.php\/2026\/08\/04\/ford-government-wont-commit-to-forest-fire-inquiry-as-chiefs-demand-change-2\/","title":{"rendered":"Ford government won\u2019t commit to forest fire inquiry, as chiefs demand change"},"content":{"rendered":"<p>By Jon Thompson, Local Journalism Initiative Reporter, Ricochet Ontario will not commit to holding an inquiry into its response to the worst forest fire season on record, despite calls from every opposition party and First Nations leaders whose communities are still under evacuation. Responding to media questions about an inquiry at a press conference Thursday, Minister of Natural Resources Mike Harris confirmed his staff will conduct a \u201cvery deep dive\u201d internal review, but he won\u2019t commit to making its results public. \u201cOnce we get through the fire season, just like we do after every fire season, we go through what\u2019s happened well, what hasn\u2019t worked the best with our teams, and we look to change those things for the following season,\u201d Harris said. \u201cI\u2019m not sure how the review will&#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%2F08%2F04%2Fford-government-wont-commit-to-forest-fire-inquiry-as-chiefs-demand-change-2%2F\">Log in here<\/a><\/div>\n<\/div>\n<\/div>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"<p>By Jon Thompson, Local Journalism Initiative Reporter, Ricochet Ontario will not commit to holding an inquiry into its response to the worst forest fire season on record, despite calls from every opposition party and First Nations leaders whose communities are still under evacuation. Responding to media questions about an inquiry at a press conference Thursday, Minister of Natural Resources Mike Harris confirmed his staff will conduct a \u201cvery deep dive\u201d internal review, but he won\u2019t commit to making its results public. \u201cOnce we get through the fire season, just like we do after every fire season, we go through what\u2019s happened well, what hasn\u2019t worked the best with our teams, and we look to change those things for the following season,\u201d Harris said. \u201cI\u2019m not sure how the review will... <\/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%2F08%2F04%2Fford-government-wont-commit-to-forest-fire-inquiry-as-chiefs-demand-change-2%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-107509","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>Ford government won\u2019t commit to forest fire inquiry, as chiefs demand change - 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\/08\/04\/ford-government-wont-commit-to-forest-fire-inquiry-as-chiefs-demand-change-2\/\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:locale\" content=\"en_US\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:type\" content=\"article\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:title\" content=\"Ford government won\u2019t commit to forest fire inquiry, as chiefs demand change - The Turtle Island News\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:description\" content=\"By Jon Thompson, Local Journalism Initiative Reporter, Ricochet Ontario will not commit to holding an inquiry into its response to the worst forest fire season on record, despite calls from every opposition party and First Nations leaders whose communities are still under evacuation. Responding to media questions about an inquiry at a press conference Thursday, Minister of Natural Resources Mike Harris confirmed his staff will conduct a \u201cvery deep dive\u201d internal review, but he won\u2019t commit to making its results public. \u201cOnce we get through the fire season, just like we do after every fire season, we go through what\u2019s happened well, what hasn\u2019t worked the best with our teams, and we look to change those things for the following season,\u201d Harris said. \u201cI\u2019m not sure how the review will\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:url\" content=\"https:\/\/theturtleislandnews.com\/index.php\/2026\/08\/04\/ford-government-wont-commit-to-forest-fire-inquiry-as-chiefs-demand-change-2\/\" \/>\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=\"2026-08-04T14:29:03+00:00\" \/>\n<meta property=\"article:modified_time\" content=\"2026-08-04T14:29:51+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=\"6 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\\\/08\\\/04\\\/ford-government-wont-commit-to-forest-fire-inquiry-as-chiefs-demand-change-2\\\/#article\",\"isPartOf\":{\"@id\":\"https:\\\/\\\/theturtleislandnews.com\\\/index.php\\\/2026\\\/08\\\/04\\\/ford-government-wont-commit-to-forest-fire-inquiry-as-chiefs-demand-change-2\\\/\"},\"author\":{\"name\":\"Lynda Powless\",\"@id\":\"https:\\\/\\\/theturtleislandnews.com\\\/#\\\/schema\\\/person\\\/7b188fd7503577895ef8b306988cd458\"},\"headline\":\"Ford government won\u2019t commit to forest fire inquiry, as chiefs demand change\",\"datePublished\":\"2026-08-04T14:29:03+00:00\",\"dateModified\":\"2026-08-04T14:29:51+00:00\",\"mainEntityOfPage\":{\"@id\":\"https:\\\/\\\/theturtleislandnews.com\\\/index.php\\\/2026\\\/08\\\/04\\\/ford-government-wont-commit-to-forest-fire-inquiry-as-chiefs-demand-change-2\\\/\"},\"wordCount\":1172,\"publisher\":{\"@id\":\"https:\\\/\\\/theturtleislandnews.com\\\/#organization\"},\"articleSection\":[\"National News\",\"ticker\"],\"inLanguage\":\"en-CA\"},{\"@type\":\"WebPage\",\"@id\":\"https:\\\/\\\/theturtleislandnews.com\\\/index.php\\\/2026\\\/08\\\/04\\\/ford-government-wont-commit-to-forest-fire-inquiry-as-chiefs-demand-change-2\\\/\",\"url\":\"https:\\\/\\\/theturtleislandnews.com\\\/index.php\\\/2026\\\/08\\\/04\\\/ford-government-wont-commit-to-forest-fire-inquiry-as-chiefs-demand-change-2\\\/\",\"name\":\"Ford government won\u2019t commit to forest fire inquiry, as chiefs demand change - 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