Fighting Fire with Fire: Canada's New $8M Plan to Tame Wildfires

TORONTO, ON – February 25, 2026 – In the shadow of the most destructive wildfire seasons in Canadian history, a landmark initiative is igniting a strategic shift in how the nation confronts the escalating threat of megafires. The new $8 million Canadian Prescribed Fire Training Program (CPFTP) aims to move Canada from a reactive stance of pure suppression to a proactive strategy of land stewardship, using controlled fire to fight fire.

Co-developed by the University of British Columbia’s Okanagan Campus (UBCO) and the Weston Family Foundation, the program represents a critical investment after years that have seen hundreds of thousands evacuated, billions in economic losses, and vast ecosystems scorched. The 2023 season alone burned a record 17.6 million hectares and released more carbon than the annual fossil fuel emissions of all but three countries, underscoring the urgent need for a new approach.

“The compounding effects of climate change and extreme wildfire events call for more proactive, planned and land-driven management tools to support healthy, wildfire resilient landscapes,” said Garfield Mitchell, Chair of the Weston Family Foundation. “This program directly addresses the skills and training gap that has been long overlooked to strengthen our capacity for widespread and responsible use of prescribed fire in Canada.”

A Legacy of Suppression and a Growing Crisis

For over a century, Canada’s primary relationship with forest fire has been one of combat. Driven by a desire to protect communities and timber resources, widespread fire suppression became the default policy. This approach, however, has had an unintended and dangerous consequence: the buildup of massive fuel loads in forests across the country. Ecosystems that evolved with and depend on regular, low-intensity fires have become overgrown and unhealthy, turning them into tinderboxes ready to explode.

When fires do ignite in these overloaded landscapes, they burn with an intensity and speed that makes them nearly impossible to control, contributing to the catastrophic megafires seen in recent years. The economic and social costs are staggering. Wildfire protection costs now regularly exceed $1 billion annually, while insured damages from single events, like the 2024 Jasper fire ($1.23 billion), can devastate regional economies. The human toll is equally severe, with hundreds of thousands displaced and entire communities shrouded in hazardous smoke for weeks, leading to significant public health crises and long-term mental health trauma.

Prescribed fire, the planned and controlled application of fire to a landscape under specific conditions, is a proven tool to counteract this trend. By mimicking natural fire cycles, these burns consume surface fuels, reduce the risk of catastrophic wildfires, and enhance the health of the ecosystem. Yet, its use in Canada has been vastly limited by a complex web of regulatory hurdles, public perception, and, most critically, a lack of trained professionals.

Forging a New Generation of Fire Stewards

The CPFTP is designed to directly tackle this capacity crisis. The program will establish five regional hubs—western, northern, central, eastern, and Atlantic—to deliver training tailored to Canada’s incredibly diverse ecosystems and governance structures. This regional approach acknowledges that a prescribed burn plan for the boreal forest of the north will look very different from one for the grasslands of the prairies or the mixed-wood forests of the east.

Crucially, the initiative aims to build a national standard of practice where one has been conspicuously absent. Unlike the United States, which has a robust national certification framework and treats millions of acres with prescribed fire annually, Canada has lacked a coordinated system, leaving practitioners to navigate a patchwork of provincial rules and limited training opportunities. “Canada’s ability to expand the use of prescribed fire has been constrained by a lack of coordinated training and clear pathways to operational experience,” explained Dr. Mathieu Bourbonnais, Director of the CPFTP and an Assistant Professor at UBC Okanagan. “This program provides the leadership and structure needed to establish national standards, deliver regionally grounded training, and build the capacity required to apply prescribed fire safely, responsibly, and at scale.”

By creating a national corps of qualified practitioners, the program seeks to make prescribed fire a mainstream, accessible tool for land managers, from federal agencies to municipal governments and private landowners.

Reclaiming Ancient Wisdom: The Role of Indigenous Fire Stewardship

A cornerstone of the new program is its commitment to respecting and supporting Indigenous-led fire stewardship. For millennia before European settlement, Indigenous communities practiced cultural burning as a sophisticated form of land management. These low-intensity fires were used to enhance biodiversity, cultivate food and medicinal plants, improve wildlife habitat, and keep landscapes open and resilient to large-scale fires. Colonial policies, however, criminalized these practices, severing a vital connection between people and the land and contributing to the ecological imbalance seen today.

The CPFTP recognizes that cultural burning is distinct from agency-led prescribed fire; it is a holistic practice driven by cultural objectives and deep Traditional Ecological Knowledge. By integrating Indigenous Fire Knowledge Keepers into its framework, the program seeks to braid ancient wisdom with modern science. This approach not only enhances the effectiveness of fire management but also supports Indigenous sovereignty and the revitalization of cultural practices. Successful collaborations, such as those involving the Secwépemc and Lil'wat Nations in British Columbia, have already demonstrated how Indigenous-led burns can increase ecosystem resilience and restore vital cultural resources.

Beyond Wildfire Prevention: Restoring Ecological Balance

While reducing the risk of catastrophic wildfires is a primary goal, the benefits of prescribed fire extend far beyond hazard reduction. For many Canadian ecosystems, fire is not a destroyer but a vital force of renewal. It recycles nutrients into the soil, creates openings in the forest canopy for new growth, and triggers the germination of fire-adapted species, from the iconic jack pine to specific berry-producing shrubs.

By reintroducing fire to landscapes that have been starved of it, the CPFTP aims to boost biodiversity and restore ecological integrity. Parks Canada has been a leader in this area for decades, using prescribed burns to maintain the health of national parks, but its efforts have been an outlier. The new program hopes to make this the norm, fostering landscapes that are not only safer for human communities but also healthier and more resilient to the pressures of climate change. The long-term vision is a fundamental shift in Canada's relationship with fire—from one of fear and suppression to one of respect, understanding, and stewardship.