{"id":74245,"date":"2025-05-30T14:41:37","date_gmt":"2025-05-30T18:41:37","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/wawa-news.com\/?p=74245"},"modified":"2026-01-03T12:39:42","modified_gmt":"2026-01-03T17:39:42","slug":"kiiwetinoong-mpp-mamakwa-statement-on-forest-fires-and-evacuations-of-deer-lake-first-nation-webequie-fn","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/wawa-news.com\/index.php\/2025\/05\/30\/kiiwetinoong-mpp-mamakwa-statement-on-forest-fires-and-evacuations-of-deer-lake-first-nation-webequie-fn\/","title":{"rendered":"Kiiwetinoong MPP Mamakwa statement on forest fires and evacuations of Deer Lake First Nation &#038; Webequie FN"},"content":{"rendered":"<p>May 30th, 2025<\/p>\n<p>Ontario NDP Deputy Leader and Shadow Minister for Indigenous and Treaty Relations Sol Mamakwa (Kiiwetinoong) is urging the Ontario government to expedite support for the Deer Lake and Webequie evacuees, wildland firefighters and all communities impacted by the ongoing wildfires in far northern Ontario.<\/p>\n<p>Earlier today, Deer Lake First Nation\u2019s Chief and Council declared an official State of Emergency due to the threats posed by the massive forest fire, \u2018Red Lake 12\u2019, which currently covers nearly 7,500 hectares. Community homes and buildings are at risk of burning and air quality is already compromised. Deer Lake\u2019s Council is planning a complete evacuation of the community.<\/p>\n<p>This afternoon, Webequie First Nation\u2019s Chief and Council announced a Phase 1 evacuation for elders, children and residents with medical conditions due to the \u2018Nipigon 5\u2019 wildfire, which has expanded to cover 1,200 hectares. Webequie\u2019s leadership declared a State of Emergency on Thursday, May 29 in response to the wildfire smoke and shifting wind conditions.<\/p>\n<p>In response to this news and the numerous ongoing forest fires, Mamakwa has issued the following statement:<\/p>\n<p>\u201cMy thoughts are with the community members from Deer Lake First Nation and Webequie First Nation as they begin their evacuations. I hope everyone stays safe and follows the guidance of their leadership. I am calling on the Government of Ontario to fully support the communities of Deer Lake First Nation and Webequie First Nation in their evacuations and eventual return.<\/p>\n<p>At the same time, it is vital that wildland firefighters are adequately staffed and resourced as they are on the frontlines protecting the residents of northern Ontario. While we witness worsening forest fire seasons, the Ontario government is continuing to under resource wildland firefighters. It is past time for the Government to build up the capacity of Ontario\u2019s wildland firefighters with stronger labour protections and better funding.<\/p>\n<p>Meegwetch to the Chief and Councils of Deer Lake First Nation and Webequie First Nation for your leadership, and to all the frontline workers and wildland firefighters working hard to safely evacuate the communities and bring Red Lake 12 and Nipigon 5 under control.\u201d<\/p>\n<p><strong>Quick Facts:<\/strong><\/p>\n<ul>\n<li>There are several other forest fires raging in northwestern Ontario, including \u2018Kenora 20\u2019 impacting Wabaseemoong Independent Nations and \u2018Sioux Lookout 3\u2019, which previously caused an evacuation of the Ojibway Nation of Saugeen.<\/li>\n<li>Deer Lake First Nation is located near the Manitoba border. On Wednesday, May 28, 2025, the Manitoba government declared a provincewide state of emergency and is facilitating the province\u2019s largest evacuation since 1997 of about 17,000 people.<\/li>\n<li>The 2025 Budget tabled earlier this month included cuts to wildland firefighting, $42 million less allocated to Emergency Forest Firefighting.<\/li>\n<\/ul>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"<p>May 30th, 2025 Ontario NDP Deputy Leader and Shadow Minister for Indigenous and Treaty Relations Sol Mamakwa (Kiiwetinoong) is urging the Ontario government to expedite support for the Deer Lake &#8230;<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":36,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"_EventAllDay":false,"_EventTimezone":"","_EventStartDate":"","_EventEndDate":"","_EventStartDateUTC":"","_EventEndDateUTC":"","_EventShowMap":false,"_EventShowMapLink":false,"_EventURL":"","_EventCost":"","_EventCostDescription":"","_EventCurrencySymbol":"","_EventCurrencyCode":"","_EventCurrencyPosition":"","_EventDateTimeSeparator":"","_EventTimeRangeSeparator":"","_EventOrganizerID":[],"_EventVenueID":[],"_OrganizerEmail":"","_OrganizerPhone":"","_OrganizerWebsite":"","_VenueAddress":"","_VenueCity":"","_VenueCountry":"","_VenueProvince":"","_VenueState":"","_VenueZip":"","_VenuePhone":"","_VenueURL":"","_VenueStateProvince":"","_VenueLat":"","_VenueLng":"","_VenueShowMap":false,"_VenueShowMapLink":false,"footnotes":""},"categories":[3338,40,48],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-74245","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","hentry","category-forest-fire-updates","category-local","category-weather"],"publishpress_future_action":{"enabled":false,"date":"2026-04-15 04:38:52","action":"change-status","newStatus":"draft","terms":[],"taxonomy":"category","extraData":[]},"publishpress_future_workflow_manual_trigger":{"enabledWorkflows":[]},"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/wawa-news.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/74245","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/wawa-news.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/wawa-news.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/wawa-news.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/36"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/wawa-news.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=74245"}],"version-history":[{"count":1,"href":"https:\/\/wawa-news.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/74245\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":74246,"href":"https:\/\/wawa-news.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/74245\/revisions\/74246"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/wawa-news.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=74245"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/wawa-news.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=74245"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/wawa-news.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=74245"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}