Jon Thompson

Early results from Kenora’s municipal race suggest a slate of three candidates led by conspiracy theorist and residential school denialist podcaster Karla Treadway will be defeated. Treadway ran on a slate with Tyler Johnson & Christopher McCaffrey. They’re currently finishing 10th, 11th, and 12th.

Thunder Bay’s preliminary mayoral race reports show Moe Comuzzi leading over Aldo Ruberto in the mayor’s race. Comuzzi is the Conservative Party establishment candidate. Ruberto and Giertuga are multiple-term councillors who have promised a heavy hand on the homeless and poor.

“The Ring of Fire is just one example. How can you expect a community like Marten Falls to effectively negotiate a meaningful agreement while trying to access clean water for themselves? They have been on the boil water advisory list since 2004…” www.nan.ca/news/nan-gra...

Thunder Bay Public Library staff could strike as soon as Thursday. A library media release on Wednesday night says CUPE Locals 3120 and 87-18 negotiators have reached a collective bargaining negotiation impasse with management.

The Northwestern Health Unit is reporting 26 per cent of young people in northwestern Ontario are vaping, compared to a provincial regional average of 11 per cent.

Thunder Bay daily runs A1 above the fold a story about our social services agency decrying municipal election candidates for spreading misinformation. An unrelated A1 above-the-fold story explores how residential school denier candidates are the real victims of uncivil discourse.

Here's something I've been working on for a while, that I'll be getting into a lot more soon. This is where Land Acknowledgements come from, this is what they mean, and this is how you've all been doing them wrong.

About that time Flo Rida poured liquor all over the crowd at Wake the Giant, the sober music event welcoming high school students from fly-in First Nations across far northern Ontario to Thunder Bay.

A Northwestern Health Unit release says over 60 drug poisonings/ODs reported in Kenora Thursday/Friday. www.nwhu.on.ca/increase-in-... Tests show nitazene, a rare synthetic opioid, “significantly more toxic than fentanyl.” health-infobase.canada.ca/substance-re...

The cubs are all right.

Ginoogaming Chief Sheri Taylor says her First Nation and OPP have terms of an agreement to increase policing drugs & violence. State of emergency declared in 2024: ricochet.media/indigenous/f... NAN-wide state of emergency declared in 2025: ricochet.media/indigenous/w...

Doug Ford’s cabinet shuffle today shows Dunlop, Harris, and Rickford all staying at their posts in emergency, MNR, and Indigenous, respectively. These were the ministers who oversaw the response to Ontario’s worst-ever forest fire summer, measured by hectares burnt.

Thunder Bay Police Service Board has named educator Christy Radbourne as its executive director.

The Sun’s Monday column is on how Trump renaming Lake Ontario is basically the same as how things are being renamed in Indigenous languages, and where’s the outrage for that? torontosun.com/opinion/colu... Never mind equating reconciliation with invasion threats,“Ontario” is an Indigenous name.

Matawa council is calling on the federal and provincial governments to address the state of emergency Neskantaga First Nation declared on Aug.4. I filed this story from Neskantaga for @ricochetmedia.bsky.social on Aug.10. ricochet.media/indigenous/r...

Among things that are not a “road to the Ring of Fire,” repaving existing road infrastructure in Aroland First Nation.

Do you find people are unable to restrain themselves from emptying their wallets and handing the contents to you? Do strangers feel compelled to pay you even after short exchanges? Do others often say of you,”I can’t believe how much I want to give that person all of my money?” Come work with us.

In only two days, a fascinating 6,400 people have signed a petition calling for limits on the number of traditional media stories allowed to feature one individual. www.change.org/p/proposal-f...

I see media's running Neskantaga First Nation's second evacuation of the summer. For those who want to read more, I flew to Neskantaga so @ricochetmedia.bsky.social could bring you this story: ricochet.media/indigenous/r... Note for editors: it's free to republish under Local Journalism Initiative.

If you haven't checked in with Emo, ON Mayor Harold McQuaker's efforts not to recognize Pride Month, the latest is how he admitted to the integrity commissioner that he pocketed the proceeds of online fundraisers collected for his cause. McQuaker is currently running unopposed for a new term in 2026

On the lighter side, @ricochetmedia.bsky.social is proud to present Lakehead University's own Todd Dufresne telling Adrian Harewood about the end of enlightenment philosophy and the urgent need for climate revolution. www.youtube.com/watch?v=090S...

Do you find people are unable to restrain themselves from emptying their wallets and handing the contents to you? Do strangers feel compelled to pay you even after short exchanges? Do others often say of you,”I can’t believe how much I want to give that person all of my money?” Come work with us.

The late Barbara Kentner’s home of Wabigoon Lake First Nation is calling her killer, Brayden Bushby’s, parole only two years into his eight-year sentence a “message that Indigenous lives are treated as expendable.“

"Beneath the urgency of the present lies a confounding paradox: we mobilize to put fires out, but not yet to prevent them," writes @sethdklein.bsky.social www.theguardian.com/commentisfre...

Come out with Ricochet Media at 7 p.m. to a Reddit AMA with Jeremy Appel about how Postmedia (owned by a Trump-aligned U.S. hedge fund) has amplified conservative grievance politics — creating fertile soil for MAGA-style ideas, and Alberta separation. www.reddit.com/r/RicochetMe...

Nishnawbe Aski Nation calls the Parole Board of Canada’s decision to grant Brayden Bushby full parole, “devastating.” Bushby struck Barbara Kentner with a trailer hitch he threw from a moving car in 2017. She later died from her injuries. Parole board said he showed no remorse.

Returning to Cushing Lake, north of Lac Des Mille Lacs, after the fires.

“Thunder Bay” was just the answer of a daily double on Jeopardy! Ontario city with stormy name. Slogan “Superior By Nature.” Guy didn’t get it. He guessed Toronto.

A notice from Grassy Narrows band office says water has been restored but air remains in the system. Leadership expects to welcome members home from Winnipeg on Saturday.

Grassy Narrows First Nation has declared a state of emergency and the community is under evacuation over water.

Grassy Narrows First Nation has declared a state of emergency and the community is under evacuation over water.

Are we noticing how liberals have started using "those who present simple solutions to complex problems" as polite longhand to mean "fascists?

Friends of the Attawapiskat River has applied for a judicial review in an effort to stop construction on the Webequie Supply Road, which would connect the First Nation to proposed mine sites in the Ring of Fire deposit. www.timminstoday.com/local-news/f...

I’m back from Neskantaga First Nation, whose eerie emptiness echoes the mental struggle of both those left behind and those who have spent their summer in Toronto hotels, especially among young people.

Repeated evacuations are beginning to take a mental health toll on the members of Neskantaga First Nation. It’s the silence that’s deafening. ricochet.media/indigenous/r...

“It’s rough out there right now. Bigots on one side of the political aisle and too many cowards on the other."- Ken Jennings

The latest from Gull Bay: fires are 20kms north and 28kms west from KZA First Nation. Today’s message from chief & council says anyone remaining or blowing blockades does so at their own risk. For more on those who are violating mandatory evacuation orders: ricochet.media/indigenous/r...

The thing that has been coming is here. www.thetrillium.ca/news/politic...

From @jonthompson.bsky.social through the Local Journalism Initiative. Neskantaga, one of the communities evacuated from the wildfires, returned home earlier this month. However, only 5 days later, they had to evacuate again due to a critical sewage failure. www.snnewswatch.com/local-journa...

From wildfire to sewage crisis: Neskantaga’s nightmare isn’t over Just days after a wildfire evacuation, the fly-in Ontario First Nation has declared another state of emergency forcing residents to leave their community again. New from @jonthompson.bsky.social: ricochet.media/indigenous/f...

BREAKING: Only five days after being repatriated from a forest fire evacuation, Neskantaga First Nation is flying out again, this time due to a contractor causing a sewage backup in the health centre basement. ricochet.media/indigenous/f... Just as summer festival was to begin...

Just a reminder that absolutely no one cares if you're working with your community partners. Even if your local media doesn't find it categorically disqualifying when you say that, zero readers/listeners/viewers will remember you or what you do if you pretend working with community partners is news.

Trans Lives in An Age of Erasure: My @ricochetmedia.bsky.social podcast conversation w/ @trevellanderson.bsky.social about representation, resistance & resilience. podcasts.apple.com/ca/podcast/i...

Ontario won't commit to an inquiry over response to the worst forest fire season on record, despite calls from every opposition party and First Nations leaders, whose communities have been evacuated. Chiefs have their own ideas they want to contribute. ricochet.media/indigenous/f...

Running the blockade: evacuation orders challenged in northern First Nations. NEW report from Jon Thompson: Elders left behind, speedboats used to get around checkpoints as wildfires loom over northern Ontario communities. ricochet.media/indigenous/r...

As mandatory forest fire evacuations continue in northwestern Ontario, I spoke to the few people who are being threatened with huge fines and even jail time for blowing blockades, as well as police & chiefs who say those people need to get out now. ricochet.media/indigenous/r...

Eabametoong (Fort Hope First Nation) is moving into phase one of repatriation. If Ministry of Natural Resources assessment of surrounding fire risk remains low, community members could begin returning home on Friday. Eabametoong evacuated on July 19. ricochet.media/indigenous/a...