More than 900 wildfires are burning across Canada, prompting evacuation orders and pushing Ontario into its worst wildfire season on record. Officials are renewing calls for the country to develop a national wildfire strategy through the creation of a federal agency.
Canada Lacks National Emergency Agency
Canada is the only G7 country that does not have a national emergency agency mandated to respond to wildfires. After a disastrous July that razed First Nations communities in northeastern Ontario and sent poisonous smoke southward through the US, provincial premier Doug Ford called for a countrywide response.
"We need a large national fire strategy. We seem to be going through this every single year," Ford told reporters.
Three Consecutive Severe Seasons
In 2023, Canada's worst wildfire season on record burned 15m hectares of land, an area larger than England, according to the federal government. That catastrophe prompted the then Trudeau-led government to consider creating a national disaster response agency, but such a body was never established. Summer 2024 became the fourth worst season, and 2025 ranked second worst, with 8.3m hectares burned.
"Never in our modern record have we had three bad fire years," said Mike Flannigan, a professor of wildland fire at Thompson Rivers University in Kamloops, British Columbia.
Climate change, caused by burning fossil fuels, has led to warming that is fuelling calamitous fire seasons, he said. A national wildfire strategy through a federal emergency agency would help Canada be more prepared. "We definitely need one, and not just for fires, but for floods, earthquakes, hurricanes," Flannigan added.
Comparison with US Model
In Canada, provinces and territories manage wildfires, with federal support as needed. This contrasts with the US, which has the Federal Emergency Management Agency (Fema) to coordinate national disaster responses with states. However, the Fema model is under threat as the Trump administration has been accused of castigating the agency and politicizing disaster aid. In principle, a group like Fema that could quickly alert provinces to resources would help Canada put out fires faster, said Flannigan.
Recent Developments
A June report from the Canadian senate recommended Ottawa create a federal coordinating office for wildfires and emergency response. On Friday, Prime Minister Mark Carney convened a cabinet-level emergency committee to organize the federal response but fell short of creating a national wildfire strategy. Canada's ministry of emergency management and community resilience told the Guardian it is considering "the potential creation of a federal emergency management agency" as it reviews feedback from recent public engagement sessions.
The costs of creating such an agency would be offset by savings from preventing community destruction and mitigating health impacts, said Flannigan. "We’re going to see more fire, more smoke and more impacts…. that’s our new reality," he said. "We’re going to have to adapt faster."
