Ontario’s Progressive Conservative government insists it is improving communications with First Nations fleeing forest fires in the northwest, following heavy criticism last week. Chiefs, however, say little has changed.
Thunder Bay-Atikokan MPP Kevin Holland claimed “there has been improved communication” in an interview published on Friday by TBnewswatch.com. Holland mentioned Kiashke Zaaging Anishinaabek (Gull Bay First Nation) Chief Wilfred King by name, among those communities who are experiencing improved communication.
“Holland said he has spoken to Chief Wilfred King from Gull Bay First Nation,” read the story “and that Premier Doug Ford expressed to King his willingness to sit down and talk.”
King said Holland is misleading Ontarians.
“Never, I have never spoken To Mr. Kevin Holland,” the chief said on Monday from a hotel in Thunder Bay where KZA members have been living since he declared an evacuation two weeks ago.
“Mr. Holland is not being truthful to anybody, especially when he says that he had a discussion with me. I had no discussion with Mr. Holland, whatsoever.”
King claimed he ran into Doug Ford at the Red Cross Centre on July 18. He said he briefly spoke with the premier and asked Minister of Natural Resources Mikel Harris for a two-hour meeting to coordinate forest fire response, which the chief says the minister declined.
“Ford was surprised I was there,” King said. “I happened to be there by coincidence when I saw his entourage pull up with the police, I knew it was Ford. I had a litany of questions for him and I was quite livid about how things have unfolded in Gull Bay, and also in relation to other First Nations who were sharing similar concerns.”
King has been out front among First Nations calling for an inquiry into what they say has been Ontario’s poor communication and coordination of firefighting and community evacuations. He was at Assembly of First Nations meetings in Ottawa when the fires began threatening Gull Bay, and was the first chief to speak publicly about having been given inadequate information to make decisions about evacuation.
He says Ontario has not responded in any way to his calls for an inquiry.
“It’s on deaf ears,” he said, adding that the provincial NDP, Green Party, and Liberals have all issued statements in favour of an inquiry. “We’ve reached out to various organizations that have been impacted by the fires and they’re all calling for the same. So it’s not only a First Nations issue, it’s an Ontario issue.”
Holland was given the opportunity to respond, but did not comment by deadline for this story.
The provincial electoral map in Thunder Bay divides the city in half, with PC MPP Holland governing the south side and rural communities to the west, while Gull Bay to the city’s northeast falls in the Thunder Bay-Superior North riding, represented by NDP MPP Lise Vaugeois. Vaugeois has previously complained the provincial government kept her office in the dark since the crisis began, not even telling her where her constituents who were evacuating their homes were going.
“I find it disturbing that government members keep reiterating that they were fully prepared for this fire season when clearly, they were not or there would not have been so many catastrophic losses of communities and properties,” Vaugeois said in a written statement.
“I know for a fact that neither the premier, nor MPP Kevin Holland, nor any other minister has reached out to Chief King of Gull Bay. There was also no communication with Gull Bay or any other community in my riding prior to their evacuations.”
‘I wouldn’t say communication is better’
Members of the fly-in Neskantaga First Nation evacuated on July 19 after enduring days of encroaching smoke and fire. Flames had been creeping closer when a different fire, hundreds of kilometres away, cut off a highway to Pickle Lake, the air supply line that brings Neskantaga its food, medicines, fuel, and bottled water.Chief Gary Quisess issued a press release on Friday, claiming the Provincial Emergency Operations Centre pulled out of a meeting on July 23 in mid-update, telling Neskantaga that staff would have no time for further meetings with the First Nation until July 30.
Quisess said that release prompted the Ministry of Emergency Management and Response to re-evaluate those timelines and a meeting was held Monday to discuss repatriation within the next few days.
He says he’s now receiving daily reports, including notification that Highway 599 to Pickle Lake is now open and airborne supplies to Neskantaga can resume.
“I wouldn’t say communication is better, I’d say it’s there. If it was better, I never would have got cut off on the PEOC [operations centre] call,” Quisess said.
“And there’s still no sign of Indigenous minister [Greg] Rickford. That’s very disappointing. There are a lot of communities that are under a state of emergency and he should be right here visiting the communities to make sure everybody’s OK.”
