Tag: alberta

A SLOW REBUILD AFTER THE BLAZE

This article was written by Dave McGinn and was published in the Globe & Mail on July 22, 2025.

In Jasper, Alta., where some families displaced by last year’s wildfire still make homes in trailers, locals expect it to take a decade for the community to fully recover.

A year after a wildfire destroyed one-third of Jasper, the recovery progress is lagging but residents are eager to reconnect in person

Wildfire destroyed 358 of the town’s 1,113 structures, but only 65 building permits have been issued so far

When Jorge Castillo was finally allowed to return to Jasper, he drove to his home in Alberta’s Rocky Mountains hoping to see at least some remnants of the house he and his family had lived in for the past four years.

He was expecting to find part of it still standing after last year’s wildfire. But “there was nothing,” said Mr. Castillo, a chef who works at a restaurant south of town.

He, his wife and their teenaged son and daughter are living in a rental condo in Hinton, 45 minutes east of Jasper.

The owner of the house in Jasper that the Castillos had been renting has promised they can return when it is rebuilt – a process, the landlord has said, that will likely take eight months.

The soil needs to be tested. The building permits need to be approved.

“They have the blueprints. They have everything ready, but they can’t start building the house,” Mr. Castillo said. “I can tell you, it is hard.”

It has been a year since the Jasper Wildfire Complex destroyed 358 of the 1,113 structures in the Alberta town, making it one of many Canadian communities to be devastated in recent years by the country’s increasingly damaging wildfire seasons.

Three fires were reported south of Jasper on the afternoon of July 22, 2024. Gusting winds merged the fires and pushed them toward town, with flames 50 metres high, and growing.

The fire would ultimately spread over 32,000 hectares.

Residents were ordered to evacuate that evening. They were told to pack enough clothes for three days.

Despite firefighters’ best efforts, the fire overtook the town on July 24. Residents were not allowed to return until Aug. 16.

Town officials have planned commemorative activities this week, including signing thank you cards for neighbouring communities that helped in the aftermath of the fire, an art therapy workshop and online sharing circles for displaced Jasperites.

For many of the hundreds of residents still displaced by the fire and hoping for a return to normalcy and home, the rebuilding process has been frustratingly slow. As of last week, just 65 building permits have been issued and only two residential properties, one apartment building and several commercial properties destroyed by the fire are currently under construction.

Many residents are still waiting on soil remediation testing to make sure there are no contaminants in the ground, applying for building permits and filing insurance claims.

Meanwhile, Alberta Premier Danielle Smith last week demanded an apology from the town over a report criticizing her government for hindering efforts to combat the fire.

Amidst all these frustrations and tensions, town officials are urging patience.

“We all want to see recovery progress as fast as possible,” said Doug Olthof, acting director of the Jasper Recovery Coordination Centre. “It’s just that recovery is not a fast process.”

Significant progress has been made to rebuild the town, Mr. Olthof said, with 100 per cent of properties having received permits for removing debris and 99 per cent of the physical debris now removed from them.

“There’s always this sort of temptation to point to one specific thing that’s slowing down or that’s the cause of a rebuild not happening very quickly,” he said. “The reality of the matter is that recovery from a natural disaster like this is a very complex process that takes quite a lot of time.”

Last week, Parks Canada and the Red Cross announced $5-million of funding to support residents with costs associated with soil testing and removal.

“There are a very large number of different contaminants that can result from a house burning, and testing is not sort of a quick and dirty thing. It takes a bit of time,” Mr. Olthof said.

Over five days last July, the wildfire burned through Nancy Addison’s community of 40 years. Six months earlier, Ms. Addison’s son had started as a volunteer firefighter; she never imagined he’d be sending her updates as the fire engulfed her home and the century-old St. Mary & St. George Parish where she volunteered.

“None of us have ever forgotten. I wake up every morning and I think about it, what we lost. … We lost everything material, but we miss each other more than anything,” Ms. Addison said.

Since the fire, she hasn’t been able to return home, trekking between Vancouver, Ottawa and now Manitoba, living with family and friends. Clearing contaminants from the soil, dealing with insurance and rebuilding a less flammable structure takes time. Ms. Addison and her husband don’t anticipate having a house in Jasper before 2027.

“It’s just been very, very emotionally draining. It’s pushed us to our limits,” she said.

Yet, Ms. Addison said the fire deepened her connection with her community. She regularly calls other members of her church – who are now displaced across the country – and they discuss how to build anew.

“Jasper’s got a heart, and we don’t just care about ourselves. We care about each other. We definitely want to move back there, because of the community. It’s the best place on Earth as far as we’re concerned. I know there’s other communities that are as wonderful, but Jasper’s ours,” Ms. Addison said.

Currently 521 people are living in temporary accommodations acquired by Parks Canada and managed by the Red Cross.

Many of them will be there a long time. Rebuilding the structures lost in the fire is expected to take up to five years, Mr. Olthof said.

The town expects the full recovery to take 10 years, he added.

That full recovery includes not only the economic redevelopment of Jasper, but also the rebuilding of what Mr. Olthof called “community, of social connection and community activity” that defined the town prior to the fire.

The town is recruiting volunteers for a program called Pathfinders that trains people in peer-to-peer support, mental health, first aid, suicide prevention and the processes involved in recovery, from getting permits to help with insurance claims.

So far, 40 people have been trained through the program. The town hopes to have 150 Pathfinders, who wear backpacks with a logo on it, or have hats provided by the town so that anyone with questions can tap them on the shoulder to talk.

“The first thing we need to recognize with something like this is, this constitutes a mass trauma event,” Mr. Olthof said. “What we expect to see, and what we have seen, is a considerable increase in the need for psychosocial supports.”

As the town rebuilds homes and its sense of community, Ms. Smith is demanding it apologize and retract a report released last week.

The report, commissioned by the town and based on surveys of more than 300 firefighters and other front-line staff, said Ms. Smith’s government complicated efforts to fight the fire by attempting to make decisions and seeking information even though it did not have jurisdiction, because Jasper is a National Park under federal control.

“Jurisdictional overlap with the province created political challenges that disrupted the focus of incident commanders leading to time spent managing inquiries and issues instead of directing the wildfire response and re-entry,” the report states.

Ms. Smith dismissed the report at an unrelated event on Friday.

“Whatever it is that they’re trying to do to deflect blame, I’m not impressed with it. And I would ask for an apology,” she said.

“Pointing fingers at others when they should be looking at what they can do to improve their own response would have been a far better outcome as we approach the year anniversary.”

This will be a sombre week in Jasper. As the community comes together, it is eager to welcome visitors.

“So much of Jasper that people know and love was unaffected,” said Tyler Riopel, chief executive officer of Tourism Jasper. “It’s still an enchanting place for people to come.”

Visits to Jasper are expected to be down 20 per cent this summer as a result of campsites and hotels lost in the fire, according to the Chamber of Commerce.

At Beckers Gourmet Restaurant, where Mr. Castillo works as a chef, business has thankfully been busy, he said.

The drive to and from Hinton is costly, but Mr. Castillo hopes to move back to Jasper as soon as possible.

“My daughter is still in the high school here, and I asked her if she’d want to change to a school in Hinton,” Mr. Castillo said. “She said, ‘No, I would like to stay in Jasper,’ so I need to come back here.”

One year after wild­fires, Jasper sees slow pro­gress

A worker walks through Jasper, Alta., last August, just weeks after a devastating wildfire swept through the town. One local official said the full residential rebuild will likely take five to 10 years.

This article was written by Matthew Scace and was published in the Toronto Star on July 21, 2025.

After 45 years in their Jasper home, it took mere minutes for Wes Brad­ford’s quaint moun­tain abode to burn to a pile of ash.

A year later, he and his wife are itch­ing to rebuild. They’ve hired a con­tractor and designer, and their insur­ance will cover the expec­ted $1­mil­lion price tag. But they can’t start yet — not until their empty lot, cur­rently a flat mound of dirt, has been declared con­tam­in­ant­free.

“We’re up against the wall,” says Brad­ford, after meet­ing their builder in Jasper the day before. “This con­tam­in­ant issue could stall our build by — who knows — is it four months? Six months? A year? Our builder wants to start build­ing our house by mid­Septem­ber, but he can’t. It’s dead in the water.”

On July 24, 2024, a dev­ast­at­ing wild­fire swept through the remote moun­tain town in Jasper National Park in Alberta’s Rock­ies, incin­er­at­ing a third of its struc­tures.

The Brad­fords were told by fire­fight­ers that their home — built in 1954 with a light­grey exter­ior, brown fence and large metal star above a front win­dow — was likely des­troyed in less than 10 minutes.

In the rubble, they recovered old national park bound­ary mark­ers, Wes Brad­ford’s Parks Canada belt buckles from his days as a warden, and his wed­ding ring, which he got in the habit of not wear­ing over the years to avoid it catch­ing on something while he was in the field.

The couple are liv­ing in Hin­ton, Alta., about an hour’s drive east of Jasper — its nearest com­munity. A lot has happened since res­id­ents were able to return late last August. Hol­low plots through the Cabin Creek neigh­bour­hood in the town’s west end have been filled with soil. The rus­ted orange shells of cars and broken glass have been cleaned off the streets.

Jasper now faces the great chal­lenge: rebuild­ing itself.

“Jasper has never exper­i­enced the level of con­struc­tion activ­ity that’s going to take place over the next sev­eral years,” says Doug Olthof, act­ing dir­ector of the Jasper Recov­ery Co­ordin­a­tion Centre.

Only the lilac bushes in front of his house were singed by the fire. Across the street, an entire row of houses was des­troyed. “Some days what you’re look­ing at is pro­gress towards recov­ery,” he says of the daily view from his door­step. “Other days, it’s just very sad.”

He says he expects the full res­id­en­tial rebuild will take five to 10 years.

So far, 114 prop­er­ties have been cleared for con­struc­tion while 71 remain held up by soil­test­ing require­ments for con­tam­in­ants, says the town’s latest update to coun­cil. Devel­op­ment per­mits have been issued to 40 fire­impacted homes, along with a hand­ful of mul­ti­plexes, hotels, com­mer­cial prop­er­ties and oth­ers, says the report from July 8.

With tour­ism sea­son in full swing, much of the town is try­ing to cash in on sum­mer money. Jasper lost 20 per cent of its accom­mod­a­tions in the fire, and its tour­ism agency says Jasper hotels and res­id­ences have been almost full since the May long week­end.

The linger­ing emo­tional impacts of the fire have var­ied in the year since the fire, says Dave Smith, a former veget­a­tion spe­cial­ist for Parks Canada in Jasper. “It’s just a full box of emo­tions, both neg­at­ive and pos­it­ive,” Smith says.

His home sur­vived the fire along with all the houses on the east side of Jasper. From his front porch, it’s as if the fire never happened. Lawns along his street are mowed and a neigh­bour recently held a wed­ding in front of their house.

Smith says there’s still con­fu­sion among loc­als about what happened.

“I feel sorry for some of the fire­fight­ers who put their heart and soul into pro­tect­ing this town who aren’t get­ting the praise they should get, because nobody’s telling the story of what really happened,” said Smith. “When people don’t get inform­a­tion, they make up inform­a­tion.”

Parks Canada is con­duct­ing its own formal review of the fire and response, which is not yet pub­lic.

Serious horsepower: At the Calgary Stampede, a new kind of energy

This article was written by Jeffrey Jones and Emma Graney, and was published in the Globe & Mail on July 5, 2025.

President and CEO of the Calgary Chamber of Commerce Deborah Yedlin, seen attending the Calgary Stampede on Friday, says one benefit of the event is the ease of connecting with so many people in one place over a short period of time.

The Calgary Stampede is famous for its business networking. Outside the rodeo grandstand, and sometimes within it, corporate parties overtake the workday throughout the 10-day festival.

This year, the improved fortunes of the energy sector are lifting spirits, though the uncertain political climate is preventing unbridled enthusiasm in the city’s business community as the annual Western institution gets under way and the ties and black oxfords are left at home in favour of boots, buckles and cowboy hats.

After years of delays, Calgary’s oil patch is celebrating the first shipment of liquefied natural gas to sail across the Pacific from a massive plant on the West Coast, a positive development for gas producers that have long struggled with low prices. And the $34-billion Trans Mountain pipeline expansion has been in operation for more than a year, making it possible to transport a whole lot more of Alberta’s oil to export markets.

Mark Carney may not have been the first choice for prime minister for many in the industry, but at least he has been sounding the right notes for them by declaring that Canada should be an energy superpower.

Oh, and then there’s the whole Alberta separation threat thing, and Premier Danielle Smith’s efforts to either prevent it or foment it, depending on who you talk to.

These will be topics of conversation shouted over the din of Garth Brooks’s Friends in Low Places blasted at top volume in bars and on rooftop patios across the city. As is customary, each venue is adorned with straw bales and rough-hewn fence boards. One thing’s for sure: There is no shortage of bashes this year hosted by energy companies, investment houses and the burgeoning agrifood and tech sectors.

“I thought last year was busy, but this year is busier,” said Deborah Yedlin, the president of the Calgary Chamber of Commerce. “It’s amazing how people are trying to squeeze in more events. I’m still getting invitations and it’s just, like, ‘No – there’s no time.’ ”

The benefit of the Stampede for locals and out-of-towners alike is the ease of connecting with so many people in one place over a short period of time, Ms. Yedlin said. “The rodeo and the chucks are not the sideshow, but there’s a whole lot more going on outside than there ever has been. It’s crazy.”

Calgary Mayor Jyoti Gondek started early, flipping the first pancakes for the 2025 edition of the event on Thursday morning. She says her Stampede dance card is also jammed with more events and meetings with elected officials and business leaders than ever before, a reflection of renewed optimism in the city.

Corporate sponsorships are in excellent shape, and the chuckwagon tarp auction – a rough gauge of the local economy – set new records this year, topping $3.8-million. Gas producer Birchcliff Energy Ltd., De Havilland Aircraft of Canada Ltd. and tech consultancy MobSquad are among the companies that will have their logos emblazoned on the horsedrawn wagons. The Stampede generates an economic impact of more than $280-million for Alberta, most of it in Calgary.

Ms. Gondek expects her Stampede conversations with colleagues at the federal and provincial level will centre on investing in energy and trade infrastructure.

“This is the best time to get deals done,” she said. “It’s the best time to have conversations. And if they want to talk about very real things, like a new Canadian economy – one Canadian economy – now is the time to do that.”

Adam Legge, the president of the Business Council of Alberta, says he’s hearing more optimism from the oil patch than he has in years – though it is tempered. Largely it’s a reflection of what he called “a newish federal government,” along with its energy-superpower messaging and early moves to speed up project construction.

But a lot still needs to happen to meet those goals, Mr. Legge said – something he expects to come up a lot over barbecue and brisket or while taking in the rodeo. “I think there will probably be lots of talk about how we actually get this moving from ambition and words to action?”

The Stampede is certainly where the political and financial worlds collide, and this year marks major changes in that intersection with U.S. President Donald Trump’s anti-trade moves disrupting the bilateral relationship, a new Prime Minister touting a more pro-development suite of policies and some separatist sentiment simmering in Alberta.

Mr. Carney was scheduled to tour the Stampede grounds and take part in the opening ceremony Friday. He will also host a Liberal Party fundraiser on Saturday.

His Energy and Natural Resources Minister, Tim Hodgson, arrived in the region a day before to sprinkle $21.5-million in federal funding on five Alberta carbon capture and storage projects.

Last year, Conservative Leader Pierre Poilievre was the sole federal party leader in attendance. He received a political hero’s welcome, with his party at the time poised to win the next election. This year he’s in a much different situation: His Conservatives made gains in the April 28 election, nearly sweeping Alberta, but he failed to oust the Liberals and lost his own seat. He is trying to return to the House of Commons as the MP for the Alberta riding of Battle River-Crowfoot in a byelection. He will take time out from campaigning, though, to headline his party’s annual Stampede barbecue, scheduled for Saturday.

The U.S. consulate held its annual Independence Day party Thursday, marking the unofficial kickoff to the Stampede party agenda. Because of the trade war, the event wasn’t a sure thing back in the spring, Consul-General Emily Fleckner told the crowd. But a raft of sponsors, including U.S.-controlled oil companies, stepped up.

Sure, there was chatter about Mr. Trump and his trade policies. But Ms. Fleckner, Ms. Smith and Ms. Gondek all spoke to the importance of maintaining friendships, given how important the U.S. remains to Alberta’s economy.

“Whether it’s politics-politics, whether it’s business-business, whether it’s business-politics and whether it’s business-politics policy, all these conversations are happening. You just get such a concentration of people in town for a week,” said Martha Hall Findlay, the director of the School of Public Policy at the University of Calgary – herself a former politician and business executive.

The informality of the occasion lends itself to frank conversations and even constructive dialogue, which is important given the decade of tension between Alberta’s government and Ottawa, Ms. Hall Findlay said. “It makes a difference when you go and have a beer together at some reception. It makes a difference if you run into people that you wouldn’t necessarily have a meeting with.”

But jurisdiction friction remains. Mr. Legge is a member of the Alberta Next panel, convened by Ms. Smith to “gather input, discuss solutions, and provide feedback to government on how Alberta can better protect its interests, defend its economy, and assert its place in Confederation,” according to the provincial government.

The panel will hear from Albertans at town halls across the province and via an online survey. It will submit its recommendations to the government by the end of the year.

The issue will absolutely be discussed over drinks and is a frequent query among people who arrive from other parts of Canada and are not aware that sovereignty is being pushed by a noisy minority. In some quarters of the business community, it’s argued that it’s precisely such talk that will hurt both Alberta and the country as a whole, as the provincial government pushes for B.C. to get on board with a proposal for a new oil pipeline to the West Coast.

“There’s enough political uncertainty to spare. We don’t need to generate our own,” Ms. Yedlin said. “It causes risk premiums to go up. This is not how we attract and grow investment in this province.”

B.C. and Alberta are about to renew old hostilities. It could get ugly

This opinion was written by Gary Mason and was published in the Globe & Mail on June 18, 2025.

As interprovincial contretemps go, the one emerging between B.C. and Alberta over the future of pipeline construction in Canada is shaping up to be a doozy.

Of course, the country has witnessed these two jurisdictions square off before, over a similar issue – the proposed expansion of a pipeline running Albertan oil to B.C.’s coastline. That was a weird one – on one side, you had former Alberta NDP premier Rachel Notley, and on the other, her close friend and fellow New Democrat, former B.C. premier John Horgan.

It got heated – at least for the cameras. But I was never convinced the angry words exchanged publicly over B.C.’s staunch opposition to the expansion of the Trans Mountain Pipeline (TMX) were all that real.

Mr. Horgan understood Ms. Notley needed the pipeline for political purposes (not to mention her provincial economy) and she, in turn, knew Mr. Horgan had a broad swath of his province opposed to the pipeline on environmental grounds. They were both just doing their job. The B.C. premier also knew that the federal government held the trump card and so, if it went ahead, his hands were clean. He could say he did his best but ultimately the final call was not his.

Which brings us to what looks like a renewed standoff between the two provinces over current Alberta Premier Danielle Smith’s desire to see a new pipeline built between her province and the northwest coast of Canada’s westernmost province. B.C. hasn’t said absolutely no under any circumstances, but it has certainly given off vibes that it isn’t warm to the idea.

B.C.’s reluctance isn’t difficult to understand. The dynamics that existed a decade ago when the two provinces were feuding over the TMX expansion still exist today. Premier David Eby has a constituency that cares about the environment, just as Ms. Smith has a constituency that wants to “drill baby drill.” B.C. is already heavily invested in gas pipelines, which many environmentalists in the province are not thrilled about. An additional pipeline carrying bitumen from Alberta would be fiercely opposed in B.C., not least of which by Indigenous groups.

Ms. Smith was recently on CBC’s Rosemary Barton Live. When asked what she might be able to “put on the table” to sweeten the pot for B.C. regarding a pipeline, the Alberta Premier responded: “Well, it’s Team Canada or not.”

I’m certain that line would have provoked gales of laughter in Victoria, and likely Ottawa, too. This is the same Premier who has said that if Alberta doesn’t get a new pipeline there will be a “national unity crisis” the likes of which the country hasn’t seen before. This is the same Premier who tabled legislation making it easier for a referendum on Alberta separatism to be held. The same Premier who tabled a list of nine demands that needed to be met to avoid a major constitutional crisis in Canada.

Yes, it’s Team Canada or not indeed.

I believe another pipeline is in the country’s interest, not just Alberta’s. If the goal is to truly be an energy superpower, as Prime Minister Mark Carney has said, then you are either serious about it or not. You need to put rules in place that don’t drive away potential private-sector investments in any new pipeline, while not utterly abandoning our obligations to the environment at the same time.

Producing oil with lower emissions is critical to this venture. That means there will need to be a massive investment by industry in carbon capture and storage. Negotiations with First Nations along any proposed route will have to be honest and legitimate, not performative, as they have been in the past. Even then, it may result in Ottawa having to force a pipeline through over strong objections.

In any event, there is a long way to go before any decision is made on a new pipeline, and a lot of due diligence that will need to occur. Let’s hope that in the meantime we don’t get a lot of Ms. Smith’s threats and constant bashing of the federal government, for which she’s well known.

You can’t make outrageous statements like Canada has “the lowest living standards in the world” – as the Premier recently told CTV News host Vassy Kapelos in attempting to make her case for another pipeline – and expect the rest of the country to have any sympathy for your position. Or to take you seriously.

I understand that it plays well in Alberta, where the governing United Conservative Party has a visceral disdain for all things Liberal. But you can’t extend one hand and say please, while with the other you’re holding up a middle finger.

Military to help Northwestern Ontario as fire closes in on First Nation

This article was written by Temur Durrani and Kristy Kirkup, and was published in the Globe & Mail on June 9, 2025.

Members of the Royal Canadian Air Force help evacuees board a C-130 Hercules aircraft at Norway House Airport in Norway House, Man., last week as crews continue to fight wildfires in northern Manitoba.

Trapped by a raging wildfire rapidly encircling his construction site in Northwestern Ontario, Neal Gillespie and 18 members of his crew were forced to huddle inside shipping containers to save their lives.

For hours, while the sky around them turned fluorescent orange and the air filled with thick fumes, the construction workers near Sandy Lake First Nation stayed stuck in the cramped space. Helicopters made several rescue attempts, though the smoke prevented any landings.

Eventually, the group had no choice but to flee.

As they ran to get in their vehicles, heading toward a safer part of the area, they saw the containers catch fire.

“It was like watching what could have happened to us – how we also could have perished in that big blaze,” Mr. Gillespie said Sunday, recalling his narrow escape from the day before.

“All our training came in handy. The guys and I are thankfully safe, all mostly back now with our families. But I can’t help but think about what could have been, how we almost, really almost, didn’t make it.”

The wildfire near Sandy Lake is one of more than 220 burning across the country, at least 98 of which are deemed out of control.

The conflagrations have been rampant largely in Western Canada. Manitoba and Saskatchewan have evacuated more than 30,000 people, with both provinces under states of emergency. Officials in Alberta and British Columbia are contending with dozens of fires, too.

Now, new fires have led Ontario to request military support, with 26 actively burning in the northwest region.

Prime Minister Mark Carney said Sunday that he called upon the Canadian Armed Forces to airlift nearly 3,000 people from Sandy Lake First Nation, close to Mr. Gillespie’s construction site. A large fire is increasingly encroaching into the remote community, just under 450 kilometres northeast of Winnipeg.

“We’re prepared to mobilize every resource needed to keep Canadians safe,” Mr. Carney said in a statement on social media, shortly after which he convened a meeting with ministers and senior officials from the Incident Response Group to discuss the emergency.

“To everyone who’s been impacted by these fires: we’re here for you.”

Captain Wyatt Shorter with the Canadian Joint Operations Command said military evacuation flights from Sandy Lake began Saturday evening and continued on Sunday.

“Over the last 24 hours, wildfire has advanced from 40 kilometres to just two kilometres from the community, placing the population at immediate risk,” he said.

Capt. Shorter said military-led evacuations from northern Manitoba have recently wrapped up, so the Sandy Lake operation will not be drawing resources away from other areas.

So far, evacuees from Sandy Lake have been taken to Red Lake, Ont., and Thunder Bay, he said.

The Ministry of Natural Resources in Ontario said helicopters and fire-ranger crews are focusing on protecting structures in the Sandy Lake area, while boats are being provided for residents to evacuate along with the aircraft.

In a statement, the City of Thunder Bay, roughly 600 kilometres from Sandy Lake, said it would serve as a hub to provide a safe place for evacuees to rest before they head toward longer-term accommodations in Southern Ontario. The city is also preparing to assist with more evacuations from other northern communities as needed in the coming days.

“These are extraordinary circumstances, and we are doing everything possible to support the safe arrival and temporary accommodation of Sandy Lake residents,” said Thunder Bay Mayor Ken Boshcoff.

“It’s in moments like these where the spirit of Northern Ontario and our commitment to one another is reflected in the way we respond.”

Mr. Gillespie, speaking from Winnipeg, said he and his crew members from Milestone Environmental Contracting and Sigfusson Northern had left their construction site to put fire breaks around Sandy Lake after community officials had asked for their help. They had been conducting some emergency planning for weeks in preparation for a possible fire.

“We were working there for a different building project,” he said. “But when we had heard about the wildfire nearby, we wanted to help, so we took our gear to do that. We had no idea the fire would jump on us like that, and that quickly.”

The construction workers, all but one of whom are from Manitoba, have now been flown away from the community.

“We’re incredibly lucky to be safe and sound,” Mr. Gillespie said. “And we can just pray now for the rest of Sandy Lake.”

In Manitoba, officials said some precipitation and cooler temperatures provided little respite on the weekend, as the province faces 28 large wildfires.

The province said one fire is five times the size of Winnipeg, while another has reached roughly seven times that size. “To provide context as to the seriousness and size of the wildfires, the city of Winnipeg is approximately 46,000 hectares,” the Manitoba government stated in its fire-status bulletin Sunday.

Alberta and British Columbia, meanwhile, are grappling with 60 and 77 smaller fires, respectively. Still, B.C. officials said Sunday that conditions remain hot and dry across the province, showing potential for more fire activity over the next few weeks.

In Saskatchewan, however, officials are preparing to lift evacuation orders for some communities.

Marlo Pritchard, president and fire commissioner of the Saskatchewan Public Safety Agency, said Sunday the recent rain has provided optimal conditions for firefighting efforts.

“But we cannot slow down,” he told reporters in a briefing. “This is the time where we can take advantage of this small window of opportunity. Gives us and our firefighter partners a small window of taking the fight directly to these fires while their intensity is lower.”

Air qual­ity likely to improve

Weather agency says low pres­sure sys­tem may help clear out smoky skies

A man walks along the St. Lawrence River under hazy skies in Montreal on Friday. On Saturday, Environment Canada's air quality index listed cities like Toronto and Montreal as having a moderate to high risk as wildfires rage across the Prairies.

This article was written by the Canadian Press and was published in the Toronto Star on June 8, 2025.

Poor air qual­ity fuelled by wild­fires burn­ing across the Prair­ies left a large swath of the coun­try envel­oped in a haze again on Sat­urday, but Envir­on­ment Canada said the situ­ation is expec­ted to improve over the week­end.

Parts of Alberta, Brit­ish Columbia, Man­itoba, New Brun­swick, Ontario, Que­bec, Saskat­chewan, and New­found­land and Lab­rador were exper­i­en­cing poor air qual­ity and reduced vis­ib­il­ity due to the wild­fires, a situ­ation expec­ted to con­tinue through Sunday.

Envir­on­ment Canada met­eor­o­lo­gist Jean­Phil­ippe Bégin said there’s some good news — a low pres­sure sys­tem passing through the Prair­ies, cur­rently in north­ern Saskat­chewan and expec­ted to move into Man­itoba and north­west­ern Ontario by Monday, is expec­ted to bring pre­cip­it­a­tion for areas hit by out­of­con­trol forest fires.

That sys­tem is not expec­ted to bring much relief in north­ern Alberta, however, where there is little rain in the fore­cast.

On Sat­urday, the agency’s air qual­ity index lis­ted some cit­ies like Toronto and Montreal as hav­ing a mod­er­ate to high risk. The index meas­ures air qual­ity in rela­tion to qual­ity of health and rates it between one and 10.

Much of Ontario remained under spe­cial air qual­ity state­ments or warn­ings on Sat­urday. South­ern Ontario, which had been under an air qual­ity state­ment on Thursday and Fri­day, saw that lif­ted early Sat­urday morn­ing.

For Que­bec, a weak cold front should help mat­ters in east­ern Que­bec, includ­ing the province’s North Shore. The situ­ation should improve into Sunday in Montreal and in south­ern Que­bec.

A high con­cen­tra­tion of fine particles in the air can be harm­ful to health and the air qual­ity situ­ation is far worse in areas where fires are burn­ing, Bégin said. “In no region of Que­bec do we have con­cen­tra­tions above 100 micro­grams per cubic metre,” Bégin said.

“Near the fires in north­west­ern Ontario, north­ern Man­itoba, north­ern Saskat­chewan, north­ern Alberta, we have in some places, def­in­itely more than 100 micro­grams per cubic metre and we have up to 600 micro­grams per cubic metre, so the air qual­ity is quite dan­ger­ous there.”

In Montreal, pub­lic health offi­cials were advising res­id­ents to keep win­dows closed, reduce out­door activ­it­ies and limit non­essen­tial travel.

Mean­while, the Saskat­chewan gov­ern­ment is boost­ing sup­port it’s giv­ing to wild­fire evacu­ees.

Bryan Chartrand with the Saskat­chewan Pub­lic Safety Agency told a news con­fer­ence in Prince Albert, Sask., on Sat­urday that it’s been mostly “status quo” with the large fires in the past 24 hours.

In addi­tion to more favour­able weather, Chartrand says there haven’t been any new light­ning-caused fires, and he says fires have also reached nat­ural bar­ri­ers such as lakes which have stopped their growth. The province said Sat­urday a hike in fin­an­cial assist­ance for those registered with the SPSA, rais­ing the amount provided to the head of house­hold to $40 per day, up from $20, and addi­tional house­hold mem­bers will get $20 per day, up from $10.

The province said there are 24 act­ive wild­fires in Saskat­chewan and 33 com­munit­ies have evac­u­ated.

Niagara Falls offers a safe refuge

Around 2,000 north­ern Man­itoba res­id­ents have made an unex­pec­ted trip to tour­ist hot spot

Carmine Colomb and his family came to Niagara Falls after evacuating Mathias Colomb Cree Nation Pukatawagan in Manitoba due to the wildfires. He is one of the evacuees temporarily living in one of five hotels in the city.

This article was written by Sharif Hassan and was published in the Toronto Star on June 7, 2025.

Until two weeks ago, Tyr­one Cari­bou and his five chil­dren lived together in a house on a remote First Nation reserve in north­ern Man­itoba. Then the scorch­ing wild­fires tear­ing through the Prair­ies blanketed the region in thick smoke and split his fam­ily across two provinces.

Cari­bou and his 15­year­old daugh­ter, Rosa Cari­bou, were part of a cohort of evacu­ees brought to Niagara Falls, Ont., while his other chil­dren are stay­ing in Thompson, Man., — three with a rel­at­ive and one, his 19­year­old daugh­ter, with her boy­friend, he said.

“We’re dis­placed all over. We got out as soon as we could,” Cari­bou said this week, stand­ing out­side the down­town hotel where he and his daugh­ter settled three days ago.

Wild­fires also forced the fam­ily from their home in Pukat­awagan, part of Math­ias Colomb Cree Nation, in 2022, but Cari­bou’s late wife, who he described as the “glue” of the fam­ily, was around back then to keep every­one together, he said.

Cari­bou had to leave the region due to his asthma, he said, and only Rosa chose to accom­pany him as the oth­ers stayed behind.

The two of them boarded a small plane at the local air­port in Pukat­awagan, which shut down soon after due to the encroach­ing blaze, Rosa said.

Her sib­lings, mean­while, took refuge at a youth centre until they could be taken away by heli­copter, she said.

“There was a lot of burnt trees and a lot of smoke,” Rosa said, describ­ing the scene from the air. “It was very emo­tional, see­ing that the way it was and not know­ing if you’re going to be able to go back home.”

The two are among some 2,000 Man­itoba res­id­ents who have taken refuge in Niagara Falls after flee­ing wild­fires raging in their province.

Evacu­ees have been put up in five hotels near tour­ist attrac­tions and the iconic Horse­shoe Falls, with around 1,000 more expec­ted to arrive in the com­ing days, offi­cials in charge of the evac­u­ation oper­a­tion said.

More than 18,000 people have been dis­placed due to the wild­fires in Man­itoba since last week, includ­ing 5,000 res­id­ents of Flin Flon near the Saskat­chewan bound­ary, along with mem­bers from at least four First Nations.

Some res­id­ents from Pimi­cika­mak Cree Nation, east of Flin Flon, were taken to Niagara Falls on Sunday, with more arriv­ing since then.

Car­mine Colomb always wanted to visit Niagara Falls.

But not under these cir­cum­stances.

The 25­year­old res­id­ent of Math­ias Colomb Cree Nation Pukat­awagan in north­ern Man­itoba said the wild­fires have been unlike any­thing he has ever exper­i­enced.

“To wake up in the middle of the night and just see smoke and flames a dis­tance from our com­munity,” he said.

Colomb said he and about 20 fam­ily mem­bers have been in Niagara Falls for a few days.

“I feel at peace. I’m able to actu­ally come out of a build­ing and breathe clean air instead of put­ting a rag over my mouth,” he said.

“I’m grate­ful for the people here to give me a space that I can relax and actu­ally sleep without being stressed. I’ve always wanted to come here, but people want to go home — that’s the same thing with me. I just miss my home.”

Kelly Ouskun’s fam­ily of six also had no choice but to leave everything behind. He first drove about 145 kilo­metres from Split Lake to Thompson, then flew to Niagara Falls.

He said he saw so much fire and smoke along the high­way that he felt “naus­eated.”

“It made me feel a little off and … my eyes were hurt­ing, feel it in the chest, and I just seen a lot of our reserve area burned,” he said, his chil­dren play­ing around him. “It’s pretty sad, see­ing it like that.” Ouskun said he has heard the homes on the reserve where he lives, includ­ing his own, are still stand­ing, and he hopes that will con­tinue to be the case.

For many, the evac­u­ation rep­res­ents their first visit to one of the coun­try’s top tour­ist des­tin­a­tions, and the oppor­tun­ity to see the sights offers a small sil­ver lin­ing to the upheaval.

Adol­phe Thomas, who fled Cross Lake with his fam­ily, went to see the falls at night and was plan­ning to go back in the day­time, he said. He described the view as “awe­some.”

For Cari­bou and his daugh­ter, the feel­ing of being away from home brought a mix of excite­ment and con­cern.

Rosa saw the falls for the first time and loved see­ing the rain­bow form over the Niagara River, the teen said. “I really like it. There’s lots out here to exper­i­ence,” she said.

But her father said he was count­ing days until they could go back home and reunite the fam­ily. “I’m very wor­ried,” Cari­bou said. “… I miss Pukat­awagan, that is our home. It feels dif­fer­ent here.”

Sum­mer brings anxi­ety to Alberta

Offi­cials racing to fend off future blazes as Rock­ies face another year of drought con­di­tions

Cliff White, a former Parks Canada fire management coordinator, is shown with his dog Farley in the Carrot Creek fire break in Banff National Park. He says park staff are making good progress on building fire breaks, but more needs to be done.

This article was written by Matthew Scace and was published in the Toronto Star on May 20, 2025.

Look­ing out over a bud­ding meadow with blackened tree stumps on the edge of Banff National Park, Cliff White points to a dark thicket of trees where the empty plot ends.

“The next fire in here is going to be incred­ible,” says the former Parks Canada fire man­age­ment co­ordin­ator, stand­ing in the expans­ive Car­rot Creek fire break.

The meadow was shorn more than 20 years ago by Parks Canada to slow wild­fires in their tracks before reach­ing Banff and Can­more.

But it’s a frac­tion of the dense, nat­ur­ally fire­prone forest blanket­ing the Bow Val­ley, where fear is grow­ing that a shower of embers, like those that des­troyed a third of the struc­tures in Jasper, Alta., last sum­mer, could hit Alberta’s most pop­u­lar tour­ist des­tin­a­tion.

The Rock­ies are facing another year of drought con­di­tions. The snow melted sev­eral weeks earlier than nor­mal, and the snowpack is lower than it was in 2023, the year of Canada’s record­break­ing wild­fires, said John Pomeroy, a hydro­lo­gist who lives in Can­more.

“Can­more’s watch­ing with great trep­id­a­tion,” said Pomeroy, also a uni­versity pro­fessor.

In the race to mit­ig­ate the dam­age from future fires, stew­ards of Alberta’s parks have turned to log­gers to cre­ate fire guards like Car­rot Creek. The areas are designed to starve a fire of fuel and cre­ate enough empty land for embers to fizzle out on the ground.

This year, Parks Canada hired an Indi­gen­ous log­ging com­pany to raze sev­eral hec­tares of land near Banff. Profits of that tim­ber will be used to main­tain the land, said Jane Park, fire and veget­a­tion spe­cial­ist for Banff National Park.

Each fire break rep­res­ents the start of a new eco­sys­tem that Parks Canada will need to main­tain.

“We can’t just let nature do its thing and just have wild­fires kind of go willy­nilly,” said Park, stand­ing among large slash piles in one of Banff ‘s new­est fire breaks.

Though hot­ter and drier sum­mers have triggered the most dam­aging wild­fire sea­sons in recent years, dec­ades of fire sup­pres­sion have made forests throughout the Rock­ies thick tinder­boxes.

Fire is part of the nat­ural life cycle for many of those trees, which carry seeds inside their pine cones that are only released when they’re on fire, Park said.

Pre­scribed burn­ing, a tra­di­tional Indi­gen­ous prac­tice, was stopped more than 100 years ago but restar­ted in the 1980s when Parks Canada dis­covered it had allowed the forest to grow out of con­trol, Park said.

In Banff, it’s already been a topsyturvy sum­mer for its small fire depart­ment. Fire Chief Keri Martens said the dry and hot start to May was nerve­rack­ing, but recent rainy con­di­tions gave her room to breathe. “The anxi­ety level cer­tainly starts to rise,” she said of the early sum­mer sea­son.

Tables inside Banff’s fire depart­ment are covered in large maps, one of them with the roughly 300 homes with roofs made of com­bust­ible mater­i­als like cedar shake, which would be most at risk of catch­ing fire from embers.

Another iden­ti­fies areas where a wild­fire could trig­ger emer­gency meas­ures, includ­ing the evac­u­ation of more than 9,000 res­id­ents and more than 20,000 tour­ists who inhabit the area over the sum­mer.

Martens said the Jasper fire is likely behind an uptick in loc­als who have enlis­ted the town to remove flam­mable trees from their prop­er­ties and equip their homes with sprink­lers.

As for White, he said park staff are mak­ing good pro­gress on build­ing fire breaks. But he hopes the model for man­aging forests can be altered to give people affected by fire more con­trol over the area.

“ We can’t just let nature do its thing and just have wild­fires kind of go willy­nilly.

JANE PARK FIRE AND VEGETATION SPECIALIST FOR BANFF NATIONAL PARK

Logging, pruning and anxiety in Banff since Jasper wildfire

This article was written by Matthew Scace and was published in the Globe & Mail on May 20, 2025.

Jane Park, a fire and vegetation specialist with Parks Canada, walks through a newly constructed firebreak in Alberta’s Banff National Park on Thursday.

Stewards of Alberta’s parks have turned to loggers to create fire guards designed to starve a fire of fuel and create enough empty land for embers to fizzle out

Looking out over a budding meadow with blackened tree stumps on the edge of Banff National Park, Cliff White points to a dark thicket of trees where the empty plot ends. “The next fire in here is going to be incredible,” says the former Parks Canada fire management co-ordinator, standing in the expansive Carrot Creek fire break.

The meadow was shorn more than 20 years ago by Parks Canada to slow future wildfires in their tracks before reaching Banff and Canmore.

But it’s a fraction of the dense, naturally fireprone forest blanketing the Bow Valley, where fear is growing that a shower of embers, like those that destroyed a third of the structures in Jasper, Alta., last summer, could hit Alberta’s most popular tourist destination.

The Rockies are facing another year of drought conditions. The snow melted several weeks earlier than normal, and the snowpack is lower than it was in 2023, the year of Canada’s record-breaking wildfires, said John Pomeroy, a hydrologist who lives in Canmore.

“Canmore’s watching with great trepidation,” said Mr. Pomeroy, also a university professor.

In the race to mitigate the damage from future fires, stewards of Alberta’s parks have turned to loggers to create fire guards like Carrot Creek. The areas are designed to starve a fire of fuel and create enough empty land for embers to fizzle out on the ground.

This year, Parks Canada hired an Indigenous logging company to raze several hectares of land near Banff. Profits of that timber will be used to maintain the land, said Jane Park, fire and vegetation specialist for Banff National Park.

Each fire break represents the start of a new ecosystem that Parks Canada will need to maintain.

“We can’t just let nature do its thing and just have wildfires kind of go willy-nilly,” said Ms. Park, standing among large slash piles in one of Banff’s newest fire breaks.

Though hotter and drier summers have triggered the most damaging wildfire seasons in recent years, decades of fire suppression, starting in the early 1900s, have made forests throughout the Rockies thick tinderboxes.

Fire is part of the natural life cycle for many of those trees, which carry seeds inside their pine cones that are only released when they’re on fire, Ms. Park said.

Prescribed burning, a traditional Indigenous practice, was stopped more than 100 years ago but restarted in the 1980s when Parks Canada discovered it had allowed the forest to grow out of control, Ms. Park said.

“We’re still getting back to where we should have been.”

The battle against a large wildfire will also be fought inside the mountain towns.

In Canmore, Simon Bagshaw decided to stop taking consulting contracts so he could focus on mitigating the risk a fire could have on his neighbourhood. He has led several events this year, encouraging people to place log piles far away from their homes and to clean their gutters.

It’s been a challenge getting the community on board, he said, because many homeowners don’t live there full time. “There’s a few of us wearing helmets and the rest are wearing toques, and we’ve got to change that.”

In Banff, it’s already been a topsy-turvy summer for its small fire department. Fire Chief Keri Martens said the dry and hot start to May was nerve-racking, but recent rainy conditions gave her room to breathe.

“The anxiety level certainly starts to rise,” Chief Martens said of the early summer season.

Tables inside Banff’s fire department are covered in large maps, one of them with the roughly 300 homes with roofs made of combustible materials like cedar shake, which would be most at risk of catching fire from embers.

Another identifies areas where a wildfire could trigger a slew of emergency measures, including the evacuation of more than 9,000 residents and over 20,000 tourists who inhabit the area over the summer.

Chief Martens said the Jasper fire is likely behind an uptick in locals who have enlisted the town to remove flammable trees from their properties and equip their homes with sprinklers.

“Jasper really hit home for a lot of people,” Chief Martens said. “We’ve had a lot more people reach out to us about our incentive programs.”

Bill aims to keep Ott­awa from grabbing oil­site data

This article was written by Lisa Johnson and Jack Farrell, and was published in the Toronto Star on March 22, 2025.

Alberta’s gov­ern­ment is pro­pos­ing a law it says would ban fed­eral employ­ees from going on any oil­related sites — from well­heads to cor­por­ate head offices — but crit­ics say the province doesn’t have the legal right to do so.

Premier Dani­elle Smith said the goal is to keep fed­eral staffers away from any place where oil and gas pro­duc­tion and emis­sions data might be loc­ated.

“Alberta will do whatever it takes to shield our eco­nomy from the Lib­er­als’ growth­killing lun­acy.”

She said it’s neces­sary because she doesn’t trust how the fed­eral gov­ern­ment will cal­cu­late green­house gas emis­sions as it con­tin­ues to craft its pro­posed emis­sions cap.

“Because the fed­eral gov­ern­ment has come up with dif­fer­ent num­bers at dif­fer­ent times for their own pur­poses, we think that we actu­ally need to get real data, and because we’re the ones on the ground, we’ll be the ones able to do that work,” she said.

The premier said emis­sions data is the prop­erty of the Alberta gov­ern­ment and, if a private com­pany doesn’t com­ply with the new rules, the province could make it a con­di­tion of its licence. She did not spe­cify which licences or leases might be under threat.

She said her gov­ern­ment’s pro­posed bill, if passed, will bind fed­eral employ­ees, but later the gov­ern­ment said in an email it won’t apply “when enforce­ment officers have a `law­ful right, jus­ti­fic­a­tion or excuse’ to enter facil­it­ies to inspect and/or invest­ig­ate.” The legis­la­tion intro­duced Wed­nes­day by Justice Min­is­ter Mickey Amery doesn’t spe­cify which fed­eral employ­ees it may or may not tar­get, rather it just says the legis­la­tion “binds the gov­ern­ment of Canada.”

Smith said last fall Alberta would chal­lenge Ott­awa’s emis­sions cap in court if or when it becomes law.

Eric Adams, a con­sti­tu­tional law expert and pro­fessor at the Uni­versity of Alberta, said the province can’t “elbow judges out of the way” and under­mine or sub­vert fed­eral legis­la­tion no mat­ter how much it might dis­agree with it.

“I fully sup­port the Alberta gov­ern­ment being able to launch whatever con­sti­tu­tional chal­lenges it wishes against fed­eral legis­la­tion,” Adams said. “What I don’t think is open for the province to do is to take a valid piece of fed­eral legis­la­tion which is fully con­sti­tu­tional, and through sleight of hand, sug­gest that they’ve passed a law to now make it impossible for that fed­eral legis­la­tion to oper­ate.

“That’s simply not the way that our fed­er­a­tion oper­ates.”

Uni­versity of Alberta eco­nom­ist and law pro­fessor Andrew Leach agreed, adding he thinks the gov­ern­ment’s goal is to “have us enter­tain the idea that they could” ignore fed­eral laws.

“There’s no real mys­tery here,” Leach said. “There’s no way they can do what they’re claim­ing they can. The whole premise of it is off­side.”

Oppos­i­tion NDP justice critic Irfan Sabir told report­ers the gov­ern­ment is put­ting industry in the dif­fi­cult pos­i­tion of being told to breach fed­eral law, all in the name of “polit­ical grand­stand­ing.”

“Even a first­year law stu­dent will tell you that one order of gov­ern­ment, espe­cially the province of Alberta, can­not bind the gov­ern­ment of Canada with its legis­la­tion,” Sabir said. He said courts are there to settle jur­is­dic­tional dis­putes. “The province can’t just write on a piece of paper and think that it will bind the gov­ern­ment of Canada.”

Smith’s gov­ern­ment has said it is determ­ined to pro­tect Alberta’s jur­is­dic­tion over its nat­ural resources and that the emis­sions cap could lead to a man­dated pro­duc­tion cut.

The premier said the latest legis­la­tion is a warn­ing to Ott­awa that Alberta won’t tol­er­ate uncon­sti­tu­tional over­reaches, and that it’s an invit­a­tion to help build pipelines across the coun­try.

“If the new prime min­is­ter wants to resume an old fight, well, we will. We’ll fight tooth and nail,” she said.