Ontario government will communicate better on wildfires, minister pledges

Ontario’s natural resources minister has pledged better communication on wildfires going forward.

Mike Harris says the province can do a better job talking with communities when forest fires are approaching.

First Nations criticized Harris and the government’s response this summer when wildfires ripped through their lands, saying they were either warned late or heard nothing at all.

About 200 fires raged in northern Ontario in July, leading to the evacuation of more than a dozen communities, many of them remote First Nations.

First Nations leaders have also called for a public inquiry into the province’s response to the wildfires, a request that Harris has not committed to fulfilling.

Harris announced today that the province is investing more than $20 million to upgrade two major wildfire attack bases in northwestern Ontario.