As hundreds of wildfires burning across Ontario force communities to evacuate and prompt urgent calls for government support, Eleanor Olszewski, the federal minister of emergency management, is defending Ottawa’s response.
“I don’t believe that anything did go wrong in this situation regarding the wildfires in Ontario,” Olszewski told CBC’s The House in an interview airing Saturday.
As of Thursday evening, 129 active fires were burning across northwestern Ontario, according to the provincial Aviation, Forest Fire and Emergency Services agency.
Chiefs at this week’s Assembly of First Nations (AFN) gathering in Ottawa passed an emergency resolution on Thursday, saying the federal and Ontario governments are failing northern Ontario First Nations, forcing them to organize their own evacuations due to what the assembly said was a lack of support from emergency management organizations.
The AFN’s resolution called on the federal government to deliver emergency support to Namaygoosisagagun First Nation, about 250 kilometers north of Thunder Bay, whose members were forced to flee in boats when a wildfire engulfed their community on Monday.
Namaygoosisagagun First Nation Chief Helen Paavola said in a statement to the assembly that community members were forced to escape on small 12- and 14-foot boats.
“We had no help, they had no help,” Paavola said of the emergency evacuation. “They had to do it on their own, and they did.”
WATCH | Wildfire tears through Namaygoosisagagun Frist Nation:
Namaygoosisagagun First Nation wildfire damage
Leaders from Namaygoosisagagun First Nation in northwestern Ontario shared this video footage with CBC Indigenous showing parts of the community after a wildfire tore through it July 13.
According to Indigenous Services Minister Mandy Gull-Masty, the Ontario government will deliver support to Namaygoosisagagun, but her department will play a role in the support.
“My heart does truly go out to anyone, First Nations peoples included, that have had to deal with this wildfire situation, that have had to worry and have anxiety about evacuating,” Olszewski told Catherine Cullen, host of The House.
LISTEN | Emergency management minister defends Ottawa’s wildfire response:
The House12:53Wildfires in Canada rankle Republicans
Wildfire evacuations can spike with a moment’s notice, but is this country equipped to handle it? Federal Minister of Emergency Management Eleanor Olszewski responds to accusations that Ontario and Ottawa failed some communities hit by fires this week, and attacks from U.S. lawmakers who say Canada isn’t doing enough to stop wildfire smoke.
Ontario asking for federal help
Ontario Premier Doug Ford said his government requested that Ottawa be prepared to deploy resources including the Canadian Armed Forces to support evacuations amid northern Ontario’s wildfire situation.
In a letter to Olszewski, Ontario’s Minister of Emergency Preparedness and Response Jill Dunlop asked the federal government to ensure aircraft and crews are ready for deployment with less than 24 hours’ notice in case the province needs assistance with evacuations.
At the time, Dunlop said 15 communities in Ontario’s north had either started evacuations or were considering them.
In a social media post the following day, Olszewski confirmed the government received Ontario’s request for federal assistance, describing it as “precautionary in nature.”
“I’ve had constant communication with Minister Dunlop since Monday of this week,” Olszewski told The House. “We are as the federal government indeed standing by and ready to assist Ontario as soon as they provide us with some more detail in terms of what that request will be.”
On Thursday, Ford said Ontario needs federal support to purchase water bombers that could be deployed across the country. The next day, he said his government would buy six of the firefighting planes as part of a $650-million purchase of 11 new aircraft.
Asked whether Ottawa needs more firefighting planes, Olszewski said: “At the present time we have sufficient aircraft.”
WATCH | Wildfires burn across Ontario:
Wildfires continue to rage across Ontario, forcing more evacuations
More communities are under evacuation orders as wildfires rage across Ontario, with smoke affecting air quality across much of the province. Ontario Premier Doug Ford says the province is throwing all resources at the response.
In its 2025 budget, the federal government allocated $316 million in funding over five years to boost Canada’s “national aerial firefighting surge capacity.”
In May, Ottawa used money from that funding envelope to lease 10 new aircraft for deployment across the country.
“I can advise Canadians that each and every one of those 10 aircraft — there’s a Bird Dog, four water bombers and [five] heavy lift helicopters — they’re all in use across the country at this moment fighting wildfires and they have been since the season started,” Olszewski said. “There are a number of them in Ontario at the present time.”
Canada’s emissions on the rise
In his second “forward guidance” video last month, Prime Minister Mark Carney acknowledged that Canada’s emissions will be higher in the next few years than they would have otherwise been.
“The changes we have made will mean that our emissions will be higher in the next few years than they were projected to be under the previous government’s plan,” Carney said.
Julia Levin, associate director of Canadian environmental advocacy organization Environmental Defence, criticized the Carney government’s change in approach.
“This week, because of the wildfire smoke, I couldn’t take my child outside to the park,” Levin said in Ottawa. “Families across the country and around the world are dealing with much worse. Look at First Nations families watching their communities burned to the ground again.
“The climate crisis is no longer a future risk,” Levin continued. “It’s a present reality and it’s being paid for right now with Canadian lives and Canadian dollars.”
Levin pointed to the federal government’s courting of a new pipeline proposal from Alberta to Canada’s West Coast, describing the proposed plan as “more climate-wrecking fossil fuel infrastructure.”
According to Alberta’s proposal, the approximately 1,200- to 1,250-kilometre pipeline project is expected to cost $35.2 billion to $43.7 billion, including contingencies. Alberta expects it to be completed between 2032 and 2034.
A condition of the pipeline moving ahead is a multibillion-dollar plan to transport and store greenhouse gas emissions from Alberta’s oil sands.
Asked how she would explain why the government is not prioritizing decreasing emissions to Canadians affected by the wildfires, Olszewski said: “We haven’t changed our commitment to climate action, but it’s necessary for us to adapt our approach given the moment in time that we are in.
“That moment in time includes things like global trade tensions, and that actually requires Alberta and Canada to make the most of its natural resources and to diversify our export markets,” she continued. “At the same time, we know that disasters such as wildfires, they are becoming more intense and they are becoming more frequent.”
Olszewski said the government and her department specifically are working on helping communities prepare for the climate impacts they’re already experiencing.
