How wildfires could play a role in future insurance premiums

CTV News

6 days ago

The Izman Creek fire burning north of Lytton, B.C. is seen in this handout photo on Wednesday, July 2, 2025. THE CANADIAN PRESS/Handout — BC Wildfire Service (Mandatory Credit)
One wildfire might not make a difference on insurance rates. But hundreds of wildfires burning across the country could.
'No single event affects a home insurance premium,' said Craig Stewart, vice-president of Climate Change and Federal Issues with the Insurance Bureau of Canada.
Insurance premiums are based on trends in particular parts of the country, Stewart explained. Prices have been rising in recent years due to the increased risk associated with more wildfires, extreme flooding and hailstorms.
'It's the aggregate of these events, really, that has had an impact on home insurance prices,' he said, adding the increased costs to rebuild homes due to inflation is also a factor.
Nationally, home insurance premiums were up 4.8 per cent year-over-year from June 2024 to June 2025, according to Statistics Canada.
Quebec's premiums stayed the same. Provinces like Prince Edward Island and New Brunswick saw slight increases of 0.9 per cent. Alberta experienced the largest jump at 11.6 per cent.
'Alberta is unfortunately the riskiest place to insure in the country,' Stewart said. 'That's just the result of the floods, the hailstorms and the wildfires that we've seen in recent years there.'
In Saskatchewan, home insurance premiums went up 5.7 per cent, the third highest increase behind Alberta and Manitoba (6.4 per cent).
There have been upwards of 700 wildfire-related claims made involving evacuations, total losses and smoke damage in Saskatchewan so far this year, according to SGI Canada. A spokesperson for the insurance company said it's too soon to tell how this wildfire season will impact insurance rates.
'As extreme weather events become more frequent and severe, the insurance industry as a whole will be affected,' SGI Canada said in a statement. 'Losses due to wildfires, floods, wind and hailstorms continue to trend upwards. Mitigation measures and construction resiliency will be key to stabilizing insurance rates going forward.'
Stewart doesn't foresee any exceptional challenges for insurers handling this year's wildfire claims. Insurers have the capacity, he said, unlike last year, when a monsoon of claims created problems.
Last year, Canadian insurers received 250,000 claims within a five-week period, according to Stewart, largely driven by Calgary's hailstorm, the Jasper wildfire, remnants of Hurricane Debby in southern Quebec and flooding in southern Ontario.
'That definitely had an impact on getting claims resolved,' he said. 'It exceeded the industry's capacity to deal with them in a timely manner.'
Denare Beach, Sask., has experienced some of the worst damage this wildfire season, losing 300 of its 413 homes last month.
SGI Canada told CTV News emergency response measures are in place to help respond to catastrophic events, so an influx in wildfire claims won't bog down its ability to provide services.
Calls for standardized recovery response
The Insurance Bureau of Canada (IBC) says a central emergency management agency is needed to help with disaster recovery efforts whether destruction takes place in a municipality, national park or Indigenous community.
Less than a fifth of properties destroyed in the Jasper wildfire have received the appropriate permits and approvals to move forward with rebuilding, according to IBC, since flames decimated 358 buildings almost a year ago.
'The issue in Jasper is part of a trend that we've been seeing across the country in recent years. We're pretty good at emergency response. We're not very good at all at recovery,' Stewart said.
'Each time, these communities have to create a new playbook for a disaster.'
Stewart says homeowners and businesses should be able to get 'back on their feet' within two years of a disaster. He classified that as a 'timely manner' and said the Fort McMurray and Tantallon wildfire recoveries are examples that it is possible.
On Wednesday, Parks Canada and the Canadian Red Cross announced up to $5 million in additional supports for Jasper residents who require contaminated soil testing and removal prior to rebuilding permanent housing.
The same day, the Saskatchewan government committed $1.8 million for cleanup and debris management efforts in Denare Beach.