Canadian wildfire officials said Friday that the 2023 wildfire season is easily the worst ever recorded, with millions of hectares already burned — and they’re expecting “higher-than-normal” activity to continue throughout the late summer and fall.
Speaking to reporters at a technical briefing, Michael Norton, the director general of the northern forestry centre at the Canadian Forest Centre, said there’s an “extreme risk” for more fires in B.C., the Prairies, the Northwest Territories and in northern Ontario because there’s been drought in some areas that could help fuel the flames.
“This summer has turned into a challenging marathon. Unfortunately, the bottom line is that the fire season is not over and it’s likely we’ll experience significant fire activity for many weeks yet,” Norton said.
Federal data reveals just how devastating this wildfire season has already been with more than 5,500 fires reported so far — events that have burned approximately 13.4 million hectares. That stunning figure is significantly more than the 10-year average of 2.2 million hectares burned in any given year.
It also easily dwarfs the previous record of 7.6 million hectares reported in 1989 — and the season isn’t even over yet.
An evacuation order for more than 700 properties was issued for the Town of Osoyoos after an out-of-control wildfire crossed into British Columbia from Washington state. The Eagle Bluff wildfire is seen burning from Anarchist Mountain, outside of Osoyoos, B.C., on Saturday, July 29, 2023. (Michelle Genberg/The Canadian Press)
The number of hectares burned is so high this year because there’s been fire activity reported in virtually every corner of the country, Norton said.
The “monumental fires” in Quebec and unusual fires in Nova Scotia have been “challenging” for the country’s firefighting resources, he said.
June, which is normally a quieter month for fires, was particularly bad this year, which has pushed up the figures, he said.
There’s been 211 evacuation orders issued so far with more than 167,000 people forced to temporarily relocate to avoid disaster, federal data shows.
The fires have burned valuable land, displaced people and threatened communities — and they’ve also been devastating for the environment.
The fires have already released one billion tonnes of carbon dioxide emissions into the air, Norton said, which is roughly the same figure as what the entire global airline industry emits in a year.
“This kind of simultaneous fire activity in all regions of the country is virtually unheard of, it’s usually more regional,” he said.
“There has been very little respite since May. This season has been relentless. This is by far the largest amount of area burned since we started keeping good records,” he said.
Firefighters from Brazil stand on the tarmac before boarding a Royal Canadian Air Force Hercules aircraft at Abbotsford International Airport, in Abbotsford, B.C., on Sunday, July 23, 2023, for a flight to Prince George where they will be deployed to various areas to assist with the wildfires burning in the province. (Darryl Dyck/Canadian Press)
With more fires expected, Norton sought to assure Canadians that the country has the personnel and resources to respond to fires as they continue to emerge. Canada has already deployed 5,821 domestic firefighters and 4,990 international firefighters from 12 countries to battle wildfires across the country.
The federal government has a multimillion-dollar program to help equip provincial firefighting teams and train new members, which has put Canada in a relatively good position, Norton said.
Natural Resources Minister Jonathan Wilkinson also announced Friday a new program that will see Ottawa send money to the International Association of Fire Fighters (IAFF) to fund a pilot project to help build wildfire fighting capacity and enhance training best practices.
The new money will be earmarked to help local firefighters better deal with fires in the so-called “wildland urban interface,” areas where fires are particularly close to populated areas.
As witnessed in Fort McMurray, Alta., Lytton, B.C., and Halifax in recent years, wildland fires can encroach on urban areas with devastating effects.
The program will help firefighters not normally accustomed to fighting wildfires be better prepared to respond, Wilkinson said.
Officials can’t predict how next year’s fire season will evolve, but the trend has been toward longer seasons and larger, more aggressive fires, Norton said.
“The science is clear that longer, tougher fire seasons are going to be part of our future,” he said. “For sure all fire agencies recognize that there is an important message here about needing to adapt.”
VANCOUVER – Contract negotiations resume today in Vancouver in a labour dispute that has paralyzed container cargo shipping at British Columbia’s ports since Monday.
The BC Maritime Employers Association and International Longshore and Warehouse Union Local 514 are scheduled to meet for the next three days in mediated talks to try to break a deadlock in negotiations.
The union, which represents more than 700 longshore supervisors at ports, including Vancouver, Prince Rupert and Nanaimo, has been without a contract since March last year.
The latest talks come after employers locked out workers in response to what it said was “strike activity” by union members.
The start of the lockout was then followed by several days of no engagement between the two parties, prompting federal Labour Minister Steven MacKinnon to speak with leaders on both sides, asking them to restart talks.
MacKinnon had said that the talks were “progressing at an insufficient pace, indicating a concerning absence of urgency from the parties involved” — a sentiment echoed by several business groups across Canada.
In a joint letter, more than 100 organizations, including the Canadian Chamber of Commerce, Business Council of Canada and associations representing industries from automotive and fertilizer to retail and mining, urged the government to do whatever it takes to end the work stoppage.
“While we acknowledge efforts to continue with mediation, parties have not been able to come to a negotiated agreement,” the letter says. “So, the federal government must take decisive action, using every tool at its disposal to resolve this dispute and limit the damage caused by this disruption.
“We simply cannot afford to once again put Canadian businesses at risk, which in turn puts Canadian livelihoods at risk.”
In the meantime, the union says it has filed a complaint to the Canada Industrial Relations Board against the employers, alleging the association threatened to pull existing conditions out of the last contract in direct contact with its members.
“The BCMEA is trying to undermine the union by attempting to turn members against its democratically elected leadership and bargaining committee — despite the fact that the BCMEA knows full well we received a 96 per cent mandate to take job action if needed,” union president Frank Morena said in a statement.
The employers have responded by calling the complaint “another meritless claim,” adding the final offer to the union that includes a 19.2 per cent wage increase over a four-year term remains on the table.
“The final offer has been on the table for over a week and represents a fair and balanced proposal for employees, and if accepted would end this dispute,” the employers’ statement says. “The offer does not require any concessions from the union.”
The union says the offer does not address the key issue of staffing requirement at the terminals as the port introduces more automation to cargo loading and unloading, which could potentially require fewer workers to operate than older systems.
The Port of Vancouver is the largest in Canada and has seen a number of labour disruptions, including two instances involving the rail and grain storage sectors earlier this year.
A 13-day strike by another group of workers at the port last year resulted in the disruption of a significant amount of shipping and trade.
This report by The Canadian Press was first published Nov. 9, 2024.
The Royal Canadian Legion says a new partnership with e-commerce giant Amazon is helping boost its veterans’ fund, and will hopefully expand its donor base in the digital world.
Since the Oct. 25 launch of its Amazon.ca storefront, the legion says it has received nearly 10,000 orders for poppies.
Online shoppers can order lapel poppies on Amazon in exchange for donations or buy items such as “We Remember” lawn signs, Remembrance Day pins and other accessories, with all proceeds going to the legion’s Poppy Trust Fund for Canadian veterans and their families.
Nujma Bond, the legion’s national spokesperson, said the organization sees this move as keeping up with modern purchasing habits.
“As the world around us evolves we have been looking at different ways to distribute poppies and to make it easier for people to access them,” she said in an interview.
“This is definitely a way to reach a wider number of Canadians of all ages. And certainly younger Canadians are much more active on the web, on social media in general, so we’re also engaging in that way.”
Al Plume, a member of a legion branch in Trenton, Ont., said the online store can also help with outreach to veterans who are far from home.
“For veterans that are overseas and are away, (or) can’t get to a store they can order them online, it’s Amazon.” Plume said.
Plume spent 35 years in the military with the Royal Engineers, and retired eight years ago. He said making sure veterans are looked after is his passion.
“I’ve seen the struggles that our veterans have had with Veterans Affairs … and that’s why I got involved, with making sure that the people get to them and help the veterans with their paperwork.”
But the message about the Amazon storefront didn’t appear to reach all of the legion’s locations, with volunteers at Branch 179 on Vancouver’s Commercial Drive saying they hadn’t heard about the online push.
Holly Paddon, the branch’s poppy campaign co-ordinator and bartender, said the Amazon partnership never came up in meetings with other legion volunteers and officials.
“I work at the legion, I work with the Vancouver poppy office and I go to the meetings for the Vancouver poppy campaign — which includes all the legions in Vancouver — and not once has this been mentioned,” she said.
Paddon said the initiative is a great idea, but she would like to have known more about it.
The legion also sells a larger collection of items at poppystore.ca.
This report by The Canadian Press was first published Nov. 9, 2024.
