As Canada’s worst wildfire season on record continues to play out, officials say they expect above-average fire activity to persist throughout August and into September in large swaths of Northern and Western Canada.
During a technical briefing on Friday, Michael Norton, director general of the Northern Forestry Centre at Natural Resources Canada, said the same drought conditions that have driven this year’s record-smashing wildfire season will contribute to ongoing fire activity through late summer. While in some regions, rain has helped reduce fire activity, Norton said fires are still “very active” in British Columbia, the Northwest Territories and Yukon.
“In September, we anticipate that the potential area at extreme risk will become a bit smaller, covering southern B.C., Prairies, part of the Northwest Territories in Western Ontario,” Norton said.
“In much of this region, the number of new fires starting will taper off as we move through September later into fall. It’s important to remember, however, that large existing fires will continue burning, and new problematic fires can occur anywhere…and it is likely we will experience significant fire activity for many weeks yet. ”
As of Aug. 10, 5,593 wildfires have burned 13.4 million hectares of land – an area greater than the landmass of the three maritime provinces combined – resulted in the deaths of four firefighters and forced the evacuation of 167,589 people across the country.
“As a bit of a comparison, the total perimeter length of this year’s fires so far would stretch more than 90 per cent of the way around the equator,” Norton said.
Carbon emissions from the fires now exceed one billion tonnes of carbon dioxide equivalent, which is equivalent to the amount of emissions generated by 306 million cars..
According to wildland fire data compiled by Natural Resources Canada and Environment and Climate Change Canada, every region of the country has weathered an especially intense wildfire season, with fires cropping up in places not normally associated with heavy wildfire activity, such as Nova Scotia.
“This kind of simultaneous fire activity in all regions of the country is virtually unheard of,” Norton said.
But Brian Simpson, head of wildfire intelligence at Natural Resources Canada, told reporters on Friday that a few provinces in particular have driven the national averages upward this year.
“The province with the most area burned is Quebec, by quite a very wide margin,” Simpson said. In June, dozens of wildfires in Quebec generated enough smoke to prompt air quality advisories in central and eastern Canada, as well as large swaths of the United States.
That same month, the Donnie Creek fire in northeastern B.C. was designated the largest recorded wildfire in the province’s history.
“Northwest Territories, B.C., Alberta, and Saskatchewan have all had really large areas burned as well,” Simpson said. “And in the case of Northwest Territories, Yukon, and B.C., those are still very actively burning. Simpson said the number of active fires burning in British Columbia is close to 400.
Canada has leaned on international firefighting aid from Australia, Brazil, Chile, Costa Rica, France, Mexico, New Zealand, Portugal, South Africa, South Korea, Spain and the United States throughout the year’s unprecedented season. As these countries scale back their aid efforts in order to address progressing wildfire seasons at home, however, Norton said Canada has enough capacity to ride out the rest of this “remarkable” season and prepare for the next one.
This, he said, is partly due to wildfire fighting investments in the 2022 federal budget, including $256 million for equipment over five years and $28 million over five years under the Fighting and Managing Wildfires in a Changing Climate Program.
“Although the situation is serious, the season will end as we move into fall,” he said. “For the next season and beyond, we’ll need to consider how we can how we increase our resilience to wildland fire from response and preparedness through to prevention and mitigation. All Canadians will have a role to play.”
MONTREAL – Quebec’s ombudsperson is warning that public services are becoming “dehumanized” in the province amid a rise in demand for them.
Marc-André Dowd released his annual report today, which highlights several examples of people receiving inadequate care across the health network in the 12 months leading to March 31.
One dying man who lived alone was denied help cleaning his cat’s litter box by his local health clinic, a service Dowd says should have been given for “humanitarian reasons.”
Dowd also describes staff at a long-term care home feeding residents “mechanically” and talking among each other — despite health ministry guidelines directing staff to maintain eye contact with residents.
The ombudsperson says his office received a record number of problems to investigate across the province’s public services — 24,867 compared with 22,053 last year.
He says his office investigated 13,358 cases between April 2023 and March of this year.
This report by The Canadian Press was first published Sept. 19, 2024.
OTTAWA – French President Emmanuel Macron will visit Canada next week after a planned trip in July was cancelled amid political turmoil in France.
Prime Minister Justin Trudeau announced in a statement today that Macron will be in Canada Wednesday and Thursday after the leaders attend the United Nations General Assembly in New York City.
Trudeau will welcome Macron in Ottawa on Wednesday, where they are expected to discuss collaboration on geopolitical issues including their ongoing support for Ukraine.
They are also expected to discuss ways to strengthen the response to emerging threats, such as disinformation.
In Montreal, Trudeau intends to show off the city’s artificial intelligence sector, while both countries reaffirm their commitment to work with counterparts on responsible use of AI.
The leaders will also discuss promoting the French language ahead of the Francophonie summit being held in France next month.
This report by The Canadian Press was first published Sept. 19, 2024.
Health Canada has authorized Novavax’s updated COVID-19 vaccine that protects against currently circulating variants of the virus.
The protein-based vaccine, called Nuvaxovid, has been reformulated to target the JN.1 subvariant of Omicron.
It will replace the previous version of the vaccine, which targeted the XBB.1.5 subvariant of Omicron.
Health Canada recently asked provinces and territories to get rid of their older COVID-19 vaccines to ensure the most current vaccine will be used during this fall’s respiratory virus season.
Earlier this week, Health Canada approved Moderna’s updated mRNA COVID vaccine.
It is still reviewing Pfizer’s updated mRNA vaccine, with a decision expected soon.
This report by The Canadian Press was first published Sept. 19, 2024.
Canadian Press health coverage receives support through a partnership with the Canadian Medical Association. CP is solely responsible for this content.
Note to readers: This is a corrected story. A previous version erroneously described the Novavax vaccine as an mRNA shot.
