June 16, 2022 Ottawa, Ontario Natural Resources Canada
As a result of climate change, wildland fire risk is growing and action is needed now. This is one of the takeaways from the Canadian Dialogue on Wildland Fire and Forest Resilience, which is summarized in the What We Heard (WWH) report.
In February 2022, the Canadian Council of Forest Ministers (CCFM) held five national roundtables as part of the Canadian Dialogue on Wildland Fire and Forest Resilience. Co-chaired by the Honourable Jonathan Wilkinson, Canada's Minister of Natural Resources, and the Honourable Mike Holland, Minister of Natural Resources and Energy Development for New Brunswick, the dialogue brought together close to 100 participants from a broad spectrum of society to identify shared needs, priorities and approaches on wildland resilience.
The views and perspectives shared by these participants will help inform Canada's first National Adaptation Strategy. The Government of Canada appreciates input from the WWH report for the development of the Strategy, as wildland fires are a critical challenge for many communities across the country and one of the foremost dangers associated with our changing climate. Working with provincial, territorial and municipal governments, Indigenous Peoples and other partners, the National Adaptation Strategy will help make communities safer and more resilient. Public consultation on the Strategy has been launched, with a targeted release by fall 2022.
The WWH is a key deliverable on a CCFM commitment to engage the whole of society in an initiative to transform wildland fire management, enhance national resilience to wildland fire and inform development of a Canadian Wildland Fire Prevention and Mitigation Strategy. Working together, CCFM members have identified enhanced wildland fire prevention and mitigation as critical steps toward their vision of a wildfire resilient Canada by 2030.
