‘Unacceptable’: First Nations leaders urge Ontario, Ottawa to help remote communities affected by wildfires

Some First Nations leaders are calling on both the provincial and federal governments to help remote communities affected by wildfires in northern Ontario.

Anishinabek Nation Grand Council Chief Linda Debassige said affected communities need clothing, food and financial donations for their immediate, medium- and long-term needs.

“Their community has been completely destroyed, all infrastructure, all equipment, anything that has to do with the community is gone,” Debassige said about Collins First Nation in an interview with CTV News Channel on Friday, noting that the intensity of the wildfires “is surreal.”

Nishnawbe Aski Nation Grand Chief Alvin Fiddler, who represents 49 First Nation communities in northern Ontario, says both the federal and provincial governments have offered “a total lack of an adequate response.”

“One of our communities … declared a state of emergency two days ago and they still have yet to see an aircraft coming into their community," he said.

Fiddler is urging Ontario Premier Doug Ford and Prime Minister Mark Carney to deploy the military to help the community, including sending aircraft to save people from the wildfires. He said it was “unacceptable” that a different community had been waiting three days for aircraft to evacuate them.

“We saw the fires escalate in our region over a week ago, and we have been asking Canada and Ontario to deploy adequate resources so that communities can be supported,” Fiddler said. “Our main priority right now is to prevent the loss of life, and I would hope that both Ontario and Canada feel the same way.”

Lawrence Wanakamik, chief of the Whitesand First Nation, said Ontario’s Ministry of Natural Resources (MNR) was “really late” in its response to the wildfires.

“It’s really critical that the MNR acted sooner and have more fire resources available, but that didn’t happen, so I am kind of disappointed,” Wanakamik told CTV News Channel on Friday.

Wanakamik lamented over the lack of resources to help fight the wildfires and the community’s frustration.

“They are very anxious, they are getting angry ... they just want to go home,” he said about community members.

Collins First Nation, the hardest hit community, was destroyed by wildfires on Monday. Meaghan Daniel, a lawyer representing the community, said in an article published by The Canadian Press on Friday that it didn’t get help because Ottawa doesn’t recognize it as a First Nation. Residents had to leave the area on their own earlier this week before the wildfires ravaged the community.

According to The Canadian Press, federal Indigenous Services Minister Mandy Gull-Masty said Thursday that the province expressed “they will be providing that (funding) support,” but that she thought the federal government had a role in the matter.

“I am looking forward to take that next step,” she said.

Indigenous Services Canada spokesperson Eric Head told The Canadian Press that Ottawa is working with the province to identify the Collins First Nation’s immediate needs and plans to provide aid.

On Friday, in response to accusations that Ontario is underfunding the firefighting efforts, Ontario Premier Doug Ford called the criticisms “false information.”

The Ontario NDP, the Ontario Liberals, and the Green Party of Ontario said the province budgeted only $150 million this year, compared to $271 million it spent in 2025. But this year’s budget is a $15-million hike over the $135 million budgeted in the last two years.

With files from CTV News Toronto’s Phil Tsekouras and The Canadian Press