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Hamilton Spectator
16 hours ago
- Politics
- Hamilton Spectator
Federal officials say wildfire forecast shows high risk of more fires in August
OTTAWA - The 2025 wildfire season is already one of the worst on record for Canada, federal officials said Friday, and there is a high risk that more fires will break out in August. More than 55,000 square kilometres of land has burned so far this year, an area roughly the size of Nova Scotia. That is more than double the 10-year average of the area burned by mid-July. There were 561 fires burning as of Friday morning, including 69 that were considered out of control. The Canadian Interagency Forest Fire Centre says almost 3,300 fires have been recorded this year so far. The record was set in 2023, when more than 6,000 fires burned more than 150,000 square km of land — an area larger than all three Maritime provinces put together. That devastating season, where wildfires raged from Newfoundland to B.C. for months on end, sparked significant public pressure for the federal government to create a new kind of disaster response agency. Former emergency management ministers Bill Blair and Harjit Sajjan both mulled the idea of such an agency during their time in office, with both ministers acknowledging the strain natural disasters have put on the Canadian Armed Forces and the provinces and territories. The government said it was looking to the United States Federal Emergency Management Agency and Australia's National Emergency Management Agency as potential examples. Final decisions on that front still have not been made. During a Friday afternoon briefing with several of her cabinet colleagues, Emergency Management Minister Eleanor Olszewski said her department will be making changes to how it responds to wildfire seasons, which are becoming longer and more severe. 'We think that the formation of such an agency could have a very positive impact on our ability to co-ordinate how we respond to national disasters across the country,' Olszewski said. That could mean having regional water bombers to respond more quickly to fires in areas that have fewer resources, she said, or leaning on a 'humanitarian task force' to ensure people can be deployed where they're needed. Matthew Godsoe, a senior director of the government operations centre at Public Safety Canada, said natural disasters are outpacing the capacity of the country's emergency management system. 'In that current context, maintaining the status quo is equivalent to doing less,' he told reporters at a technical briefing Friday, adding that all levels of government and individual Canadians must work together 'to slow or stop this nearly exponential growth in disaster losses that we're experiencing as a country.' The federal government has been called in to provide help five times this wildfire season, including last week, when the Armed Forces and the Red Cross helped to evacuate more than 2,800 people from Garden Hill First Nation in Manitoba. Olszewski said she expects to have an update on a federal emergency agency in the fall. In the meantime, communities in high-risk areas are bracing for things to get worse in the next two months, which are typically the most active months of the fire season. Saskatchewan has already seen one of the worst fire seasons ever in terms of the total area burned, and a record number of people have been forced out of their homes in that province. Indigenous Services Minister Mandy Gull-Masty said 39,000 people have been forced to evacuate from 66 First Nations, mostly on the Prairies, calling the fire season unprecedented. 'It is, I hope, not the new reality that we have to live with, but I'm asking myself what this looks like,' she said. Gull-Masty said the government's goal at the end of the wildfire season is to 'come together, debrief, reflect, and put tools in place for the next possible time that this occurs.' Officials said the fire risk typically rises throughout August as temperatures get hotter, and they are predicting higher than normal temperatures for most of the country next month. 'This is consistent with climate change projections, which show that the next five years will be warmer than (we) are used to,' said Sébastien Chouinard, the director of operations at the Canadian Meteorological Centre. August is also slated to bring below-normal rainfall levels for the Prairies, B.C. and the Maritimes. More than 530 firefighters from Australia, New Zealand, Costa Rica, Mexico and the U.S. are in Canada to help. Natural Resources Minister Tim Hodgson said his department is setting aside $11.7 million over four years to create the Wildfire Resilience Consortium of Canada, an agency he said will 'connect domestic, international governments, the private sector, wildfire scientists and experts and affected communities to share knowledge, science and technology so we can fight fires better.' The consortium is part of Canada's commitment to a wildfire co-operation charter that was signed at the G7 leaders' summit in Kananaskis, Alta., this summer. This report by The Canadian Press was first published July 18, 2025. Error! Sorry, there was an error processing your request. There was a problem with the recaptcha. Please try again. You may unsubscribe at any time. By signing up, you agree to our terms of use and privacy policy . This site is protected by reCAPTCHA and the Google privacy policy and terms of service apply. Want more of the latest from us? Sign up for more at our newsletter page .
National Observer
a day ago
- Politics
- National Observer
High risk of more wildfires for Canada in August
The 2025 wildfire season is already one of the worst on record for Canada, federal officials said Friday, and there is a high risk that more fires will break out in August. More than 55,000 square kilometres of land has burned so far this year, an area roughly the size of Nova Scotia. That is more than double the 10-year average of the area burned by mid-July. There were 561 fires burning as of Friday morning, including 69 that were considered out of control. The Canadian Interagency Forest Fire Centre says almost 3,300 fires have been recorded this year so far. The record was set in 2023, when more than 6,000 fires burned more than 150,000 square km of land — an area larger than all three Maritime provinces put together. That devastating season, where wildfires raged from Newfoundland to B.C. for months on end, sparked significant public pressure for the federal government to create a new kind of disaster response agency. Former emergency management ministers Bill Blair and Harjit Sajjan both mulled the idea of such an agency during their time in office, with both ministers acknowledging the strain natural disasters have put on the Canadian Armed Forces and the provinces and territories. The government said it was looking to the United States Federal Emergency Management Agency and Australia's National Emergency Management Agency as potential examples. The 2025 wildfire season is already one of the worst on record for Canada, federal officials said Friday, and there is a high risk that more fires will break out in August. Final decisions on that front still have not been made. During a Friday afternoon briefing with several of her cabinet colleagues, Emergency Management Minister Eleanor Olszewski said her department will be making changes to how it responds to wildfire seasons, which are becoming longer and more severe. "We think that the formation of such an agency could have a very positive impact on our ability to co-ordinate how we respond to national disasters across the country," Olszewski said. That could mean having regional water bombers to respond more quickly to fires in areas that have fewer resources, she said, or leaning on a "humanitarian task force" to ensure people can be deployed where they're needed. Matthew Godsoe, a senior director of the government operations centre at Public Safety Canada, said natural disasters are outpacing the capacity of the country's emergency management system. "In that current context, maintaining the status quo is equivalent to doing less," he told reporters at a technical briefing Friday, adding that all levels of government and individual Canadians must work together "to slow or stop this nearly exponential growth in disaster losses that we're experiencing as a country." The federal government has been called in to provide help five times this wildfire season, including last week, when the Armed Forces and the Red Cross helped to evacuate more than 2,800 people from Garden Hill First Nation in Manitoba. Olszewski said she expects to have an update on a federal emergency agency in the fall. In the meantime, communities in high-risk areas are bracing for things to get worse in the next two months, which are typically the most active months of the fire season. Saskatchewan has already seen one of the worst fire seasons ever in terms of the total area burned, and a record number of people have been forced out of their homes in that province. Indigenous Services Minister Mandy Gull-Masty said 39,000 people have been forced to evacuate from 66 First Nations, mostly on the Prairies, calling the fire season unprecedented. "It is, I hope, not the new reality that we have to live with, but I'm asking myself what this looks like," she said. Gull-Masty said the government's goal at the end of the wildfire season is to "come together, debrief, reflect, and put tools in place for the next possible time that this occurs." Officials said the fire risk typically rises throughout August as temperatures get hotter, and they are predicting higher than normal temperatures for most of the country next month. "This is consistent with climate change projections, which show that the next five years will be warmer than (we) are used to," said Sébastien Chouinard, the director of operations at the Canadian Meteorological Centre. August is also slated to bring below-normal rainfall levels for the Prairies, B.C. and the Maritimes. More than 530 firefighters from Australia, New Zealand, Costa Rica, Mexico and the U.S. are in Canada to help. Natural Resources Minister Tim Hodgson said his department is setting aside $11.7 million over four years to create the Wildfire Resilience Consortium of Canada, an agency he said will "connect domestic, international governments, the private sector, wildfire scientists and experts and affected communities to share knowledge, science and technology so we can fight fires better."
Yahoo
a day ago
- Politics
- Yahoo
Military asked to consider dismissing members after 1st offence of unwanted sexual touching
Defence Minister David McGuinty wants the military to review a trend in civilian court toward judges supporting workplaces firing Canadians for any unwanted sexual touching on the job — even if it happened once. The Canadian Armed Forces (CAF) is launching new advisory panels this fall to discipline military members for sexually inappropriate behaviour. The minister is supportive, his office said, of an external monitor's recent recommendation that if the military wants to modernize its conduct process, it could look at a clear pattern in civilian court over the past decade. "Now, more than ever, any type of non-consensual touching of a sexual nature within the context of one's employment is likely to lead to dismissal, even for a single event and even if there are mitigating factors," external monitor Jocelyne Therrien wrote in her June report. Victims and experts have long raised concerns that the military has moved members involved in cases like groping to other units, given them warnings or other remedial measures. Therrien wrote that gone are the days where that's a "viable solution" and it could expose the victim or other staff to risk. The government hired Therrien to track the military's progress implementing changes to try and reform its handling of sexual misconduct. Retired Supreme Court justice Louise Arbour's landmark 2022 report made sweeping recommendations after a series of senior military leaders were removed from prominent roles amid allegations, causing a damaging and high-profile crisis. Therrien estimates the military is on track to meet "the intent" of Arbour's recommendations by the end of the year. But she flags one of the biggest challenges for military is that files related to misconduct are scattered across different databases which makes it difficult to get a clearer picture of the current state of the issue. WATCH | Can the military change how it handles sexual misconduct?: Therrien's latest report said case law has "rapidly" and "significantly" evolved over the past 10 years. "In reviewing these judgments, I note a clear trend towards supporting dismissal for any sexual touching in the workplace," she wrote. More civilian judges are using the logic that sexual harassment involving unwanted touching is "unequivocally" considered sexual assault which is a criminal offence in Canada, she wrote. Changes to the Canadian Labour Code in 2021 also require federally regulated workplaces to ensure they are harassment-free. Not dismissing people in some cases can lead to liability claims, wrote Therrien. "The fact that similar cases in the past were dealt with through administrative measures other than dismissal no longer carries any weight," Therrien said. The minister's office says McGuinty supports Therrien's recommendation that "the significant evolution in workplace harassment case law should be considered as the CAF continues modernization." McGuinty's office told CBC News the minister will be looking for the upcoming panels "to yield real results." They will include law and sexual misconduct experts, the office said. Therrien's report also said the military is considering launching a "scale of severity" to help determine if members should be kicked out or otherwise reprimanded. People moved around Megan MacKenzie, a professor at Simon Fraser University who specializes in military culture, says the CAF should adopt a one-strike-you're-out policy for unwanted sexual touching. "This is a really significant recommendation," said MacKenzie. "There is just no ambiguity for anyone in any workplace at this point in time that inappropriate touching, touching of a sexual nature, is not OK." In the past, these kinds of cases were often called "low-level harassing behaviours" and the military dealt with it internally including by shuffling people around as a temporary solution, she said. "That doesn't solve the problem," she said. "It moves the problem to a different unit and the alleged victim and the accuser may still have interactions with each other." The CAF has been grappling with sexual misconduct for decades while saying it has a "zero-tolerance policy," she said. MacKenzie said kicking out people for unwanted touching would demonstrate that policy. Supporting victims Retired master corporal Sherry Bordage, who reported being groped by her superior, said it's time for the military to act. "Why allow predators to continue to hide within the ranks? What possible good could that serve?" she said. Bordage reported her platoon commander touched her breast and made inappropriate comments at a mess dinner in 2010 at CFB Borden. In military court, a Canadian Armed Forces judge stayed proceedings for the criminal sexual assault charge against Master Warrant Officer D.J. Prosser, according to the court martial documents. Prosser pleaded guilty to a lesser military service offence for ill treatment of a subordinate, the records show. Military judge Lt.-Col. Louis-Vincent d'Auteuil noted he took into consideration several mitigating factors, including that it was "an isolated incident" and "unusual" for Prosser who had spent 30 years serving in the military at that time, his reason for sentencing said. The military judge gave Prosser a reprimand and a $1,500 fine — and allowed him to continue serving. Bordage said she left the forces in 2014 because she didn't feel safe and faced reprisals from her chain of command for reporting the incident. She says the military should kick out members for unwanted sexual touching to keep others safe. "This decision, had it been implemented during my time, would have been night and day," said Bordage. The CAF has not yet responded to a CBC News request for comment. Therrien's report contained a long list of findings and notes a new probationary period for recruits could help weed out problematic members early on.
CBC
a day ago
- Politics
- CBC
Military asked to consider dismissing members after 1st offence of unwanted sexual touching
Social Sharing Defence Minister David McGuinty wants the military to review a trend in civilian court toward judges supporting workplaces firing Canadians for any unwanted sexual touching on the job — even if it happened once. The Canadian Armed Forces (CAF) is launching new advisory panels this fall to discipline military members for sexually inappropriate behaviour. The minister is supportive, his office said, of an external monitor's recent recommendation that if the military wants to modernize its conduct process, it could look at a clear pattern in civilian court over the past decade. "Now, more than ever, any type of non-consensual touching of a sexual nature within the context of one's employment is likely to lead to dismissal, even for a single event and even if there are mitigating factors," external monitor Jocelyne Therrien wrote in her June report. Victims and experts have long raised concerns that the military has moved members involved in cases like groping to other units, given them warnings or other remedial measures. Therrien wrote that gone are the days where that's a "viable solution" and it could expose the victim or other staff to risk. The government hired Therrien to track the military's progress implementing changes to try and reform its handling of sexual misconduct. Retired Supreme Court justice Louise Arbour's landmark 2022 report made sweeping recommendations after a series of senior military leaders were removed from prominent roles amid allegations, causing a damaging and high-profile crisis. Therrien estimates the military is on track to meet "the intent" of Arbour's recommendations by the end of the year. But she flags one of the biggest challenges for military is that files related to misconduct are scattered across different databases which makes it difficult to get a clearer picture of the current state of the issue. WATCH | Can the military change how it handles sexual misconduct?: Is the military capable of changing how it handles sexual misconduct? 3 years ago Therrien's latest report said case law has "rapidly" and "significantly" evolved over the past 10 years. "In reviewing these judgments, I note a clear trend towards supporting dismissal for any sexual touching in the workplace," she wrote. More civilian judges are using the logic that sexual harassment involving unwanted touching is "unequivocally" considered sexual assault which is a criminal offence in Canada, she wrote. Changes to the Canadian Labour Code in 2021 also require federally regulated workplaces to ensure they are harassment-free. Not dismissing people in some cases can lead to liability claims, wrote Therrien. "The fact that similar cases in the past were dealt with through administrative measures other than dismissal no longer carries any weight," Therrien said. The minister's office says McGuinty supports Therrien's recommendation that "the significant evolution in workplace harassment case law should be considered as the CAF continues modernization." McGuinty's office told CBC News the minister will be looking for the upcoming panels "to yield real results." They will include law and sexual misconduct experts, the office said. Therrien's report also said the military is considering launching a "scale of severity" to help determine if members should be kicked out or otherwise reprimanded. People moved around Megan MacKenzie, a professor at Simon Fraser University who specializes in military culture, says the CAF should adopt a one-strike-you're-out policy for unwanted sexual touching. "This is a really significant recommendation," said MacKenzie. "There is just no ambiguity for anyone in any workplace at this point in time that inappropriate touching, touching of a sexual nature, is not OK." In the past, these kinds of cases were often called "low-level harassing behaviours" and the military dealt with it internally including by shuffling people around as a temporary solution, she said. "That doesn't solve the problem," she said. "It moves the problem to a different unit and the alleged victim and the accuser may still have interactions with each other." The CAF has been grappling with sexual misconduct for decades while saying it has a "zero-tolerance policy," she said. MacKenzie said kicking out people for unwanted touching would demonstrate that policy. Supporting victims Retired master corporal Sherry Bordage, who reported being groped by her superior, said it's time for the military to act. "Why allow predators to continue to hide within the ranks? What possible good could that serve?" she said. Bordage reported her platoon commander touched her breast and made inappropriate comments at a mess dinner in 2010 at CFB Borden. In military court, a Canadian Armed Forces judge stayed proceedings for the criminal sexual assault charge against Master Warrant Officer D.J. Prosser, according to the court martial documents. Prosser pleaded guilty to a lesser military service offence for ill treatment of a subordinate, the records show. Military judge Lt.-Col. Louis-Vincent d'Auteuil noted he took into consideration several mitigating factors, including that it was "an isolated incident" and "unusual" for Prosser who had spent 30 years serving in the military at that time, his reason for sentencing said. The military judge gave Prosser a reprimand and a $1,500 fine — and allowed him to continue serving. Bordage said she left the forces in 2014 because she didn't feel safe and faced reprisals from her chain of command for reporting the incident. She says the military should kick out members for unwanted sexual touching to keep others safe. "This decision, had it been implemented during my time, would have been night and day," said Bordage. The CAF has not yet responded to a CBC News request for comment.
CBC
2 days ago
- General
- CBC
Items removed from Kensington town hall don't date back to Second World War after all
The Canadian Armed Forces says two items that were removed from the municipal building in Kensington, P.E.I., earlier this week did not date back to the Second World War, as first believed. A resident dropped two pieces of military-like equipment off to police based in that building on Monday. Fearing they could have the potential to explode, officials evacuated the premises as a precaution. The building stayed shut until Canadian Armed Forces members arrived from the base in Gagetown, N.B., around noon on Tuesday to take the equipment back with them for examination. Police had told CBC News that one of the items appeared to be a mortar shell from the 1939-1945 global conflict, but in an email on Tuesday, a military spokesperson said the items have now received a closer inspection. "The first was a Royal Canadian Air Force (RCAF) training munition/simulated ordnance. These are training aids used by RCAF pilots and dropped on practice targets to improve drop accuracy," the email read. "It was not a WWII mortar shell." The second item was identified as a spent rocket motor — not a rocket fuel canister as previously believed. "There were no military stampings or identifying military markings, and the propellant was expended," officials wrote. "It resembled an amateur/hobby rocket." Do not remove the object; leave it in place. If possible, a photo of the item is very useful to aid in early identification. — Canadian Armed Forces email The email said the motor could have been a fire hazard if it had not already been used. The training munition has only a small charge, designed to give off coloured smoke as a visual marker for the training exercise. Officials said if other people find any type of suspected unexploded devices, they should call their local police force, who will liaise with the Canadian military as the Kensington Police did in this instance. "Do not remove the object, leave it in place," the email said.
