This year has been Canada's most disastrous year for wildfires and the season is not over yet.
Fire season in Canada is commonly May through October. This year wildfires began in multiple regions in April and to date have occurred in 3 additional provinces apart from the usual western provinces and territory.
Why have Canadian wildfires become so difficult to contain/extinguish?
As spring arrived across Canada it was unusually dry and hot. Summer heat in the past year was more intense and ice formed later in the winter. Fuels that feed wildfires dried faster and earlier than in previous years. Some areas experienced moderate or severe drought. Temperatures rose above normal and in some regions, broke previous record-breaking highs. Many experts attribute these changes to climate change. Volunteer firefighters are on the front lines of wildfires in rural and unincorporated communities and often don’t have the training required for tasks such as creating firebreaks. The wildfires quickly became dangerous and fast-moving requiring evacuations to become necessary. Preparedness Levels, which are assessed by wildfire experts at Canada's National Interagency Fire Centre (NIFC), determined that Canada had reached a level 5 (on a of 1-5) and was at the point of employing every available resource to battle the wildfires. Out-of-country resources were required to continue to fight the growing number of wildfires.
Initially, the federal government mobilized military units to assist provincial/territorial fire-fighting services. By mid-June, the Canadian Interagency Forest Fire Centre (CIFFCO) had brought in additional fire-fighting teams from the United States, Australia, New Zealand, Chile, France, Portugal, and South Africa to combat the unprecedented wildfire situation.
Currently, it is expected that many wildfires will continue to burn for months since so many are located in large remote areas where the terrain is rugged and inaccessible.
Who is most affected by wildfires?
While many thousands of Canadians have been evacuated from their community and far too many have lost property and homes, the Canadians who are most affected for years after the smoke clears, are those who live in Indigenous communities. The loss of homes, property, and infrastructure damage is common among all communities affected by wildfires. As is grief, mental health challenges, and a sense of hopelessness. However, for Indigenous communities, there is also what health professionals are referring to as a loss of identity due to the cultural connection to the land and reliance on nature for country food and traditional medicine.
The land that they once identified with is completely changed and they are no longer able to connect to nature through traditional and cultural activities as they had before. Traditional trapping and hunting land is lost. Vegetation is no longer available for animals such as rabbits, deer, moose, and beaver. Natural habitats often haven't fully recovered from previous wildfires. The intense heat from these current wildfires can incinerate minerals in the soil, leaving it barren of any nutrients needed for regrowth. It can take several years before the soil nutrients are naturally replaced.
Wildfires have regularly threatened many Indigenous communities but unlike in previous years, residents are less unable to effectively battle these increasingly dangerous and intense fires. Without proper training and equipment, they cannot defend their communities as before.
What is being done?
The Assembly of First Nations and Services Canada has updated their strategy regarding fire protection in Indigenous communities. Goals have been identified such as ensuring that all First Nations communities have the highest standard of firefighting training available in order to quickly react and be an effective resource to protect their communities. In June 2023 the federal government announced funding to train hundreds of Indigenous firefighters and Indigenous fire guardians.
In January 2023 the Indigenous Leadership Initiative launched the First Nations National Guardians Network supported by the federal government. First Nations Guardians are trained experts working on key environmental, economic, cultural, and social priorities identified by their communities and driven by an obligation to the land. With this new support, they will be better able to work together while sharing their experiences and expertise. This organization will also allow them to access resources and government funding tailored to their community’s needs. Indigenous-led conservation and stewardship are powerful models for addressing environmental challenges and reconciliation.
The federal government has begun to fund Canada-wide training focused on fighting wildfires. The International Association of Firefighters (IAFF) will provide training for full-time municipal firefighters and volunteer rural firefighters tasked with managing fires from buildings such as homes, sheds, and barns. This summer, instructors began training in order to provide wildfire response courses to volunteers. Natural Resources Canada has provided training courses to structural firefighting personnel. This is part of the first phase of a larger program that will begin in 2024. As well, the federal government has earmarked funding for the next 5 years to provide equipment for fire-fighting projects across Canada.
What else can be done?
For hundreds of generations Indigenous people around the world have used controlled burns to encourage the regrowth of plant medicines, clear underbrush for hunting purposes, create berry patches, renew crops and grazing land, and most importantly keep communities safe. In Canada, this practice was severely restricted if not banned by previous governments centuries ago. However, examples of the practice continue around the world. Australia is rejuvenating Indigenous knowledge and using controlled burns to create healthy landscapes again. B.C. has brought in a burning expert from Australia to help train crews in the practice of controlled burning. However, with funding challenges and onerous approval processes, crucial windows of opportunity for controlled burns in the spring and fall can be missed. Government support for these efforts is minimal at best.
Scientists who study fire are eager for Canada to learn from other countries that are more aggressively battling wildfires with preventative controlled burns. Canada is far behind the United States where prescribed burns are commonly used to clear large areas with very few issues. These burns reduce the fuel which helps create ferocious wildfires where the land is so dry that very little decomposes. The past four months are indicative of the challenges that Canadians will continue to face unless more aggressive fire-fighting tactics are utilized.
Many northern communities lack the basic infrastructure that southern communities have access to. Residents of the North West Territories have been asking the federal government to address the gaps in basic infrastructure for decades. For many communities, there is only one access road (often unpaved). Permafrost is often the base of these roads and is seriously compromised by unusually high temperatures. Telecommunication networks in the territory don't have a backup system. Recently when residents of a small community near Yellowknife lost access to the telecommunication network, the chief was notified of evacuation orders via a letter hand-delivered to him by Department of Environment and Climate Change officers. This area has since been provided with a Starlink dish for internet access, however, it’s clear that more needs to be done by the federal government to ensure that these Canadians feel heard and supported.
If you are interested in connecting with Climate Change advocacy organizations, consider the following:
- The Environment and Climate Change Youth Council
- Environment-climate-change-youth-council
- Unite For Change
References:
https://www.cbc.ca/radio/thecurrent/nwt-fires-caroline-cochrane-infrastructure-1.6947611 Article by Padraig Moran Posted August 25, 2023
https://www.cbc.ca/news/canada/north/kakisa-letter-evacuation-order-notification-1.6945707 Article by Liny Lamberink Posted August 23, 2023
https://www.cbc.ca/news/canada/british-columbia/fire-indigenous-cultural-burning-prescribed -burning-wildfires-bc-fires-climate-change-solutions-1.6503543 Article by Yvette Brend Posted June 29, 2022
https://www.cbc.ca/news/canada/british-columbia/firefighter-training-bc-1.6938867#:~:text=Br itish%20Columbia-,Ottawa%20could%20do%20more%20to%20equip%20volunteer%20crews%2 0to%20fight,compared%20to%20their%20urban%20counterparts. Article by Akshay Kulkarni Posted August 18, 2023 https://www.cbc.ca/news/politics/blair-wildfires-severe-federal-aid-1.6863479 Article by Richard Raycraft Posted June 02, 2023 https://www.cbc.ca/news/canada/saskatchewan/fire-land-connection-indigenous-communities -canada-1.6890768#:~:text=Saskatchewan-,When%20the%20smoke%20clears%3A%20Indigeno us%20communities%20worry%20about%20connections%20to,ways%20of%20life%20will%20su ffer. Article By Sam Samson Posted June 29, 2023 https://www.cbc.ca/news/canada/north/first-nations-guardian-network-north-1.6710589#:~:te xt=Last%20month%2C%20the%20federal%20government,to%20a%20government%20news%20 release. Article by Hilary Bird Posted January 11, 2023
https://apnews.com/article/canada-wildfire-indigenous-land-first-nations-impact-3faabbfadfe43 4d0bd9ecafb8770afce#:~:text=The%20worst%20wildfire%20season%20in,fishing%20and%20ga thering%20native%20plants. Article by Tammy Webber and Noah Burger with Associated Press News Posted July 19, 2023 https://www.usnews.com/news/world/articles/2023-08-17/explainer-canadas-record-wildfire-s eason-whats-behind-it-and-when-will-it-end#:~:text=Wildfires%20are%20common%20in%20Ca nada's,out%2Dof%2Dcontrol%20wildfires. Article by Reuters for U.S. News and World Report Posted August 17, 2023 Link for image:
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