Canada’s wildfire seasons are no longer episodic shocks. They are systemic and growing more costly with every passing year. Leading wildfire experts who are changing how we think about wildfire science, Indigenous fire stewardship, forest management, and emergency preparedness clearly underscored that new reality during a recent FPAC policy webinar.
What stood out from this event was the degree of alignment around one central truth: Canada already has strong provincial wildfire systems. The federal role is not to replicate them, but to enable them to work better, faster, and at scale. Five key lessons from the event point to a clear conclusion: policy must evolve from reacting to wildfire disasters to building long-term wildfire resilience.
- Wildfire is a national resilience issue
- Suppression-first approaches have created today’s wildfire risk
- Prevention and mitigation deliver strong economic returns—but only if scaled
- Indigenous fire stewardship is essential to effective wildfire management
- Canada has the tools to act—the cap is the implementation