NAN Supports Call for Public Inquiry into Ontario’s Inadequate Wildfire Response

THUNDER BAY: Nishnawbe Aski Nation (NAN) Grand Chief Alvin Fiddler has issued the following statement in support of a public inquiry into Ontario’s response to this summer’s wildfire crisis, as NAN leadership address media at 1:00 p.m. today, Thursday, July 30, 2026, in the Ontario NDP Caucus Boardroom, Room 351, Main Legislative Building, Queen’s Park:

“Climate change is real. All you have to do is step outside and smell the air. It’s playing out in real time, and our communities are the most vulnerable. Nishnawbe Aski Nation stands with our First Nations across Ontario in formally calling for a public inquiry, under the Public Inquiries Act, into the circumstances surrounding this year’s wildfire emergency and the province’s response to it.

Let me be clear: the Ontario Government has completely and utterly failed our communities. Every step of this response has been inadequate. The warnings, the coordination, the evacuations, all of it. We are still being frozen out. The Premier and his Ministers will not return our calls, and yet they have the audacity to say they have met with us when they have not. Minister Dunlop has claimed her office has maintained communication with our leadership throughout this crisis. That is a lie. That is not the reality our communities have lived through while their homes burned.

Fire management and emergency management are provincial responsibilities. These systems exist to protect the citizens of Ontario. We are citizens of Ontario. And yet, when it mattered most, this government has failed us.

This is not incompetence. This is a choice – a choice to treat our lives as less important, our communities as less deserving of protection. This must never happen again. We will hold the province accountable for its failures, and we will not stop until we get answers. An independent public inquiry is necessary to determine exactly what went wrong and to force the changes needed to prevent this from ever happening again. Our communities depend on it.”

NAN represents 49 First Nations across Northern Ontario within the James Bay Treaty No. 9 and Ontario portions of Treaty No. 5 territory. Throughout the 2026 wildfire season, NAN First Nations have reported delayed and inconsistent emergency communication from the province, including instances where communities were not informed of evacuation plans affecting their safety. Despite repeated calls for direct engagement, NAN leadership have been unable to secure consistent, coordinated communication with the Ontario government throughout the emergency.

For more information please contact:
Michael Heintzman,
Director of Communications
Cell: (807) 621-2790
mheintzman@nan.ca