More than 440 fires are burning across the country, forcing people from their homes and others to stay inside due to wildfire smoke pollution.
Fires stretch thousands of hectares in provinces like B.C., Alberta, Saskatchewan, Ontario, Nova Scotia and the Northwest Territories. Charred earth and burnt forests are left behind in the path of the blazes as fire crews tirelessly work to contain the flames.
Fires have burned 3.8 million hectares, which is about the same size as Great Bear Lake in N.W.T. (Screenshot Google Maps)
Fires in Canada are measured in hectares a unit larger than acres but smaller than kilometres. However, understanding just how large a wildfire is can be difficult to picture.
CTVNews.ca has taken wildfires across the country and compared them to cities or bodies of water showcasing just how large the fire is. CTVNews.ca analyzed wildfires deemed out of control, while fires under 1,000 hectares were not considered.
BRITISH COLUMBIA
As of June 8, there were 82 active wildfires burning in B.C., of which the largest are burning uncontrolled.
Here is what the Donnie Creek fire looks like over top of different places in Canada for scale.
A bit north, situated on the border between B.C. andAlberta, the Tooga Creek fire continues to burn. Although crews have held (likely to not spread further) one area, most of the blaze is burning out of control.
On June 7 the fire was roughly 16, 280 hectares. Below is a comparison for the Tooga Creek fire with Vancouver.
One fire is located on the border of B.C. and N.W.T., but B.C.’s map shows the majority of the fire is located in the territory. The fire was discovered on May 13 and since then has grown to an estimated 249,077 hectares, according to data from N.W.T.
A separate fire located near Dogface Lake is also burning out of control as of June 5. Officials estimated the blaze is about 108,203 hectares in size which is eight times the size of Yellowknife.
ALBERTA
Alberta is usually the epicentre of wildfire stories as dry air persists in the province throughout the year.
One of the largest fires currently burning is in the Rainbow Lake community, northwest in the province. Early on residents were told to evacuate due to the blaze and after a month were allowed to return home.
It has grown to more than 155,000 hectares which is about 2.2 times the size of Edmonton.
A separate fire located just southeast of the Peace River community has burned an estimated 126,195 hectares which is a little bigger than Lesser Slave Lake, located just south of the fire.
SASKATCHEWAN
Some of the largest fires in the country are burning in the northern parts of Saskatchewan.
One fire located in the nort of the Haultain River, east of Highway 155 has grown to about 377,126 hectares, this is about two and a half times bigger than Lac La Ronge.
Fire burning in Saskatchewan is of similar size to a lake. (Screenshot Google Maps)
Located in the northwest of the province communities around the area left on May 15, however, one man went the opposite direction to defend his family cabin.
Martin Morin told CTV Saskatchewan he wishes the province would have fought the fire more aggressively before it spread.
Now the fire has grown to 180,413 hectares which is about 10 times the size of Regina.
An aggressive fire burning through Opasquia Provincial Park in the northwest of the province has grown to 12,742 hectares, which is larger than the City of Barrie.
Smoke from these fires and across the country blanketed the nation’s capital on Tuesday, prompting air quality advisories for most of eastern Ontario and the Greater Toronto Area.
Wildfires are “worrying” to provincial officials who said Tuesday fire crews are now trying to battle blazes in the northwest. The province is only able to fight about 30 fires at a time due to the lack of crews, Premier Francois Legault said.
A fire near the City of Val-d’Or in Quebec’s Abitibi-Témiscamingue region prompted evacuations of several areas last week.
The fire burning east of the community has grown to 18,144 hectares as of June 8, which is just over half the size of Laval, Que.
NOVA SCOTIA
The largest fire in Nova Scotian history is being held by firefighters, a map from the province shows on June 8.
The blaze which burned just under 25,000 hectares started May 27 and prompted widespread evacuations from the southern part of N.S. Officials believe if the weather permits the fire should not grow further.
The blaze is about two and a half times the size of the City of Halifax.
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.
