Editor’s note: Part 2 in a wildfire series
Despite Prime Minister Mark Carney’s insistence in a June 30 video address that Canadians cannot afford to meet the previous government’s ambitious carbon emissions reductions targets, the wildfires ravaging Canada this summer demonstrate that the most vulnerable communities pay the highest price for government policies that prioritize the fossil fuel industry over the climate crisis.
Rising temperatures
According to the Government of Canada website, “temperature is a key indicator of how the climate is changing in response to greenhouse gas (GHG) emissions from human activities, as increasing GHG concentrations result in warming of the lower atmosphere.”
“The national average temperature for the year 2024 was 3.1 degrees Celsius above the 1961 to 1990 reference value, matching 2010’s record as the warmest year since 1948,” the website reads. “The annual average temperature in Canada has increased at roughly twice the global average rate.”
“The wildfire situation has escalated significantly over the last three weeks across the country, and particularly in Northwestern Ontario,” Carney stated in a July 15 social media post. He acknowledged that evacuations are displacing thousands of people. However, he did not even mention climate change.
“Extreme heat waves and record-breaking dry conditions are resulting in one of the most intense wildfire seasons in Canadian history,” Carney stated in a July 18 post. “The fires are especially devastating in Northwestern Ontario, where more than 10 communities have already been evacuated,” the prime minister added. Again, he didn’t mention climate change.
“This is one of the most intense wildfire seasons in Canadian history due to extreme heat waves and record-breaking dry conditions,” the prime minister posted on July 19. He revealed that Canada is deploying “more than 5,000 firefighters and nearly 300 water bombers, helicopters, and evacuation aircraft to contain, control, and mitigate the fires.” However, nowhere in his post did the prime minister utter the term ‘climate change.’
Lewis criticizes Carney
“The world wants to do more with Canada. Our MOU with Alberta will unlock those opportunities in energy — and create lasting benefits for Canadians,” Carney said in a July 15 post, promoting a proposed pipeline to the West Coast that would ship one million barrels per day of oil to global markets.
“Incredibly brazen for the Prime Minister to boast about the ‘lasting benefits’ of expanding fossil fuel production on a day like today,” NDP Leader Avi Lewis replied in a July 15 post. “Record-breaking heatwaves. Toxic smoke engulfing cities and towns. Out of control wildfires forcing entire communities to evacuate.”
Lewis accused the Carney government of “spending billions of dollars in public money to expand the very industry that’s causing climate breakdown — at a moment when renewables are cheaper and more available than ever before.”
“No more climate-wrecking corporate welfare,” Lewis demanded. “We need a government that protects the people and places we love.”
Canadian Climate Institute
“Accelerating climate change, largely from the burning of fossil fuels, makes wildfires bigger, hotter, and more destructive,” notes a July 10, 2026 backgrounder issued by the Canadian Climate Institute. “With Canada warming twice as fast as the global average, and home to more than a quarter of the world’s boreal forests, the country is experiencing this consequence of global heating firsthand.”
“While forest fires are naturally occurring disturbances that contribute to the health and renewal of many forest ecosystems, fires are burning hotter and wilder as the climate warms, causing much greater destruction,” reports the Canadian Climate Institute, a registered charity. “A warming climate is leading to decreased annual snow cover across Canada’s north in May and June, leading to drier conditions which increase wildfire risk.”
“Our research finds that to keep Canadians safe from wildfires and other worsening climate hazards, governments must play both defence and offence—protecting people and ecosystems while accelerating the transition away from fossil fuels to limit climate heating.”
Destruction of First Nations communities
According to the Climate Change Institute, Indigenous Peoples are disproportionately affected by wildfires. “Eighty per cent of majority-Indigenous communities in Canada are located in fire-prone regions,” notes the fact sheet. Moreover, in excess of 42 per cent of wildfire evacuations “have been from majority-Indigenous communities.”
The Namaygoosisagagun First Nation, also known as Collins First Nation, was the first community to be destroyed this summer.
“We’re aware that community members were forced to carry out an emergency evacuation without the support of emergency services,” Anishinabek Nation Grand Council Chief Linda Debassige said in a July 15 public statement.
On July 19, Chief Pauline Drake issued a public statement announcing “the devastation of her beloved community, Whitewater Lake, as a result of the wildfires raging across Northwestern Ontario.” According to the chief, “much of the community has been destroyed,” including homes and vital community infrastructure.
Accountability
“Namaygoosisagagun First Nation Chief Helen Paavola spoke at today’s news conference in Thunder Bay regarding her community’s wildfire evacuation,” noted a July 21 social media post by the Anishinabek Nation.
“My community was evacuated without notice or support. We didn’t understand how MNR [Ministry of Natural Resources] failed to protect us. We are a member of the Anishinabek Nation and we are grateful for their support,” Paavola said.
“The Anishinabek Nation represents 39 First Nations throughout the province of Ontario from Algonquins of Pikwàkanagàn in the east, Aamjiwnaang First Nation in the south, and Lake Nipigon in the north,” reads the website of the Anishinabek Nation.
During a July 21 press conference at Thunder Bay, Northern Ontario First Nations’ chiefs called for the establishment of an official inquiry into the Ontario government’s response to the wildfires.
Recommendation
If Carney is giving up on reducing Canada’s GHG emissions, will the federal government, in cooperation with Ontario, at least significantly increase efforts to help First Nations communities become more resilient to wildfires?
“Indigenous communities in Canada have used controlled fire as traditional land management practice since time immemorial,” the Climate Change Institute notes. “Supporting these cultural burning practices can help reduce the risk of out-of-control wildfires.”
Follow Geoffrey P. Johnston on BlueSky @geoffypjohnston.bsky.social