In the middle of the night, families in Namaygoosisagagun First Nation packed what they could carry and raced across a lake in small boats as wildfire closed in around them.
No emergency alert had reached them. Days earlier, their chief had asked the federal government if the fire posed a threat and was told no. By the time the flames arrived, there was no time left for an organized evacuation.
Everyone escaped alive, but the community's homes, buildings, and infrastructure
burned to the ground.Sign the petition to demand Ontario restore full wildfire emergency funding and put mandatory evacuation alert systems in place for every at-risk community.This year, nearly 200 wildfires are burning across Ontario, and almost 1,000 across Canada.
More than 884,000 acres have already burned in Ontario alone. Thirteen communities have been forced to evacuate, most of them First Nations. Namaygoosisagagun and Whitewater Lake First Nation have both been destroyed.
Nearly 2,000 people have had to leave their homes for cities like Toronto and Niagara Falls, many with nowhere permanent to return to. Prime Minister Mark Carney called it one of the most intense wildfire seasons in Canadian history.
The same fires are tearing through
Ontario's boreal forest, one of the largest intact forest systems left on Earth,
forcing moose, wolves, caribou, black bears, and countless birds to flee for their lives or die trying. For First Nations communities, that forest isn't just scenery. It's the hunting grounds, medicine, and food source generations have depended on, so losing it means losing a part of their way of life long after the smoke clears.
But instead of preparing for a future with more fires like this one, Ontario is pulling back. The province spent $271 million on emergency firefighting last year. This year, it plans to spend just $150 million. First Nations communities are already far more likely to be located in high-risk fire zones, and many
wait longer for aid because of bureaucratic recognition delays, like the one that left Namaygoosisagagun's own request for help unanswered.
Restoring full funding and requiring real evacuation alerts would give every community, especially the ones climate change is putting in the most danger, the warning they need to get out safely and a better chance at safeguarding their homes and the lands they rely on.
Sign now and demand that Ontario restore wildfire emergency funding and guarantee that no family is ever again left to save themselves with no warning at all!