OTTAWA — The federal government says it will strengthen its response during the upcoming wildfire season, with forecasts showing above-normal temperatures for the summer months.
At a news conference in Ottawa Thursday, Minister of Emergency Management and Community Resilience Eleanor Olszewski reported that the season is already underway, with 65 active wildfires and six out of control across the country.
“So we know obviously that hot and dry weather conditions increase the risk and above normal temperatures are expected across most regions of Canada over the next three months. And some regions and most specifically western Canada in the month of July and more Ontario and Quebec in the month of June.”
Olszewski said wildfires and other disasters are “more frequent, more severe, more costly,” and that Canadians “are expecting the government to step up and respond to that reality.”
She said that was something she heard directly through last year's historic wildfire season and through their national public engagement on the future of federal emergency management, which closed at the end of March.
“And that's really the message that I want to emphasize today. We have learned and we've adapted our approach and we're so much more focused on preparing in advance and coordinating closely. And if we, we mean federal, provincial and Indigenous communities are ready to respond together, we can get through this wildfire season.”
Olszewski also said that at the centre of their efforts to protect Canadians will be Public Safety's Government Operations Centre. This will be the first wildfire season for the centre, which opened last November and will operate 24 hours a day, seven days a week.
She also pointed to recent investments of $108 million to renew the humanitarian workforce program, $55.4 million to modernize their emergency alerting system, and $316 million to CIFFC, the Canadian Interagency Forest Fire Centre, to lease 10 additional wildfire fighting aircraft — consisting of five water bombers and five heavy-lift helicopters.
“That's going to make a huge difference in terms of surge capacity and how we can help provinces that need equipment at a particular point in time. So really I can say this, our commitment to strengthening federal emergency management is ongoing.”
Hon. Julie Dabrusin, Minister of the Environment, Climate Change and Nature, urged people to stay prepared by checking weather and air quality forecasts and alerts.
Dabrusin said their primary goal is “to provide Canadians with the information they need to make informed choices and decisions to protect their health, safety, and property. Before and during wildfire events, our meteorologists closely monitor conditions and issue air quality warnings when smoke threatens communities. We provide detailed forecasts on temperature, precipitation, wind, as well as smoke movement and concentrations so that Canadians can stay ahead of rapidly changing conditions during wildfire smoke episodes.”
She also announced a government investment of more than $47 million over five years to “support wildfire preparedness, response, and risk reduction through Parks Canada's national fire management program.”
Dabrusin said the funding will strengthen their readiness by supporting trained wildfire personnel and increasingly nationally deployable equipment, and also support measures that reduce wildfire risks, such as carefully planned prescribed fires and vegetation management. She said Parks Canada has already completed 11 of those prescribed fires.
The government also says First Nations communities continue to be disproportionately affected by emergency events, including wildfires.
Mandy Gull-Masty, Minister of Indigenous Services, told reporters in Ottawa that “there are many First Nations communities that are facing emergencies at this very moment, and there are some who are still responding to the devastating fire season that they endured last year and this winter.”
“I think last year's valuable lessons that we were able to attain really spoke to the space of prevention, surge capacity tools being available, and of course, collaboration as a major tool across all levels of governments.”
Corey Hogan, Parliamentary Secretary to the Minister of Energy and Natural Resources, noted the start of fire season “has been significantly slower than in recent years.”
“However, some wildfires have already affected communities, including right here in my own province of Alberta,” he said. “Part of Woodlands County was under an evacuation order earlier this month due to an out-of-control wildfire.”
He said forecasting shows that fire danger across Canada is expected to build through July, with British Columbia “facing the highest and most sustained fire danger. Additionally, some parts of northern, central, and eastern Canada could see elevated fire danger emerge quickly over the same period.”
In the last few days, he said, “we have begun to see an increase in fire activity in Manitoba, Saskatchewan, and the Northwest Territories.”
Hogan said the government is committed to “sharing these forecasts regularly and consistently so Canadians are equipped, knowledgeable, and can prepare if needed.”
He added the government is also supporting wildfire fighter training and helping the provinces and territories buy specialized equipment. He said the government has supported the training of over 2,000 personnel, including wildland firefighters, structural firefighters and community wildfire protection trainees.
“This more than doubles our original goal of training 1,000 firefighters, and we did it two years ahead of schedule. Because that's the pace we need to move at to protect communities and save lives.”
