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Canada Faces Calls for National Wildfire Agency After Jasper Fire
Experts say decentralized budgets and staffing leave Canada relying on ad hoc help as 3 recent fire seasons burned about 4 million hectares a year.
An alliance including the Council for Clean Capitalism and the Canadian Association of Fire Chiefs requested a $4.1 billion "national resilience package" and creation of a National Fire Administration ahead of the November 2025 federal budget.
Canada remains the only G7 country without a national wildfire agency; a 2026 Senate committee report documented fractured jurisdictions and coordination challenges, recommending a "federal coordinating office" modeled after systems in Australia and the United States.
Wildfire seasons are becoming hotter and longer, with 2023 marking Canada's worst season in history; forests now release an average of 600 million tonnes of carbon annually, reversing their historical role as carbon sinks.
Scientists predict high-intensity wildfires across Canada for 2026, with fire ecologist Mike Flannigan calling the year a "litmus test" after three consecutive extreme seasons.
Experts including Amy Cardinal Christianson of the Indigenous Leadership Initiative advocate shifting from suppression to "good fire"—Indigenous-led cultural burning that reduces fuel loads and forest vulnerability.