Thank you, Mr. Chair and colleagues, for inviting me here today to appear before you.
I know that honourable members and Canadians are seeking answers and want to hear about the events that unfolded in Jasper. I look forward to helping the committee members understand the Government of Canada's emergency preparedness efforts with respect to wildfire preparedness and management.
This year, Canadians witnessed more devastating destruction caused by wildfires. Over five million hectares were burned, and fires continue to burn across the country as we speak.
This past summer, right across the country, we saw fires and floods followed by hail. We're not done yet, with an active hurricane season. So far in 2024, fires have burned twice the yearly average, and Canadians are feeling the impacts on their communities.
We left no stone unturned to get Canadians prepared for the wildfire season this year, especially working with our provincial and territorial counterparts.
Following the catastrophic season in 2023, we worked with all levels of government, NGOs and private sector partners to prepare Canadians. As part of these efforts, I hosted round table discussions across the country with provincial, territorial and municipal decision-makers, first responders and experts in the field. We talked about capacity building and maintaining our response readiness. We spoke about how to best prepare, but also how to mitigate. We also spoke about the need to better integrate indigenous emergency management into our preparedness planning.
These conversations were critical in helping us strategize and coordinate this year's wildfire planning, response and recovery. We ensured open communication with provinces, territories and indigenous leaders, sharing forecasts in advance of the season and providing frequent updates as climate data became available to help form and share readiness and response across the country.
As you are no doubt aware, the government operations centre under Public Safety Canada is the lead for federal response coordination for emergency events. Throughout the wildfire season, the team worked non-stop to respond to emergencies in support of communities across the country.
That brings me to the tragic events that unfolded in Jasper and, frankly, to the reason we are here today, which is to help the people themselves and the rebuilding that is happening.
Jasper is a special part of Canada, which we can all agree on. It is a UNESCO world heritage site, a place where nature and wildlife are safeguarded, a carbon sink and a sacred land for indigenous communities. However, like anywhere in Canada, Jasper is not immune to the increased severity and frequency of climate change.
We were monitoring the wildfires in Jasper and also in northern Alberta very closely. I was in daily contact with Minister Ellis from Alberta as well, who is my counterpart there. Immediately following the devastating fire in Jasper, I toured the region with Premier Smith, Minister Ellis and other members of her government, alongside the mayor of Jasper.
Sadly, Mayor Ireland discovered that his home did not survive the fire. This had been his childhood home since the age of two. It was the home where he and his wife raised their two sons and where he had lived for 67 years.
Together, we all heard from the command leaders, which included Parks Canada members, many of whom lost their own homes and possessions in Jasper.
We heard from experts, from Calgary's heavy urban search and rescue team to fire chiefs, about what took place in Jasper. They described the wall of flames and the unpredictable wind conditions that led to the evacuation. Winds of 100 kilometres per hour with gusts of up to 150 kilometres per hour launched pine cones and branches that were on fire into the town. No fire team, no matter how experienced, could stop the fire's path.
Here I want to quote the deputy premier and minister responsible for emergency preparedness, Minister Ellis. He said that the actions first responders took saved lives in all communities. The preparation that the municipality, Parks Canada and partners in the region took in advance helped save the majority of the town through bravery and outstanding coordination on the ground.
I also want to take this opportunity to personally thank him for his efforts in working together to make sure that we had a very well-coordinated response. All orders of government stood with conviction and echoed this sentiment.
When the wildfire threatened the municipality of Jasper in July, the federal government received and approved a request from Alberta for Canadian Armed Forces support. Approximately 25,000 community members were also evacuated.
Over the course of 2024 wildfire season, we received two additional requests for federal assistance from Alberta, all in support of the community of Jasper.
Federal support included wildland firefighting resources, humanitarian and logistics support and assistance from the Canadian Armed Forces.
Support from the humanitarian workforce included wildfire mitigation and hazard cleaning support from Team Rubicon. The Canadian Red Cross provided support at reception centres to help evacuees and shared a donation-matching fund with the Government of Alberta to support their ongoing needs. The Salvation Army prepared daily meals to help first responders.
In addition to federal assistance, 850 firefighters were deployed to Jasper from other regions of Alberta and from across the country. The collaborative spirit and shared commitment in Canada to managing our fires together is in many ways our greatest asset in the fight against climate change.
We also called in additional resources from our international partners. Over 600 firefighters arrived in Alberta from Costa Rica, Australia, New Zealand, the United States, South Africa and Mexico.
In Jasper, all orders of government and partners committed to being there for the residents, and we are doing just that.
As of right now, the wildfire situation in Alberta is stable and the response is being effectively managed at the provincial level. Although we are now on the other side of the peak summer temperatures, we must remain vigilant. We continue to work on emergency preparedness measures with all our partners to further strengthen our resilience in the future. We all know we need to do more and collaborate more to ensure we can safeguard communities against increasingly active climate-driven hazards.
That is where we stand today. I'm focused on rebuilding and working with our partners on how to prevent this from happening in another town in Canada.
Again, this requires collaboration. It means having a real plan to fight climate change, because it is no longer a matter of “if” climate change will affect us. Normally we say, “But when?”, but sadly it is happening right now. We're seeing this not only across our country but around the globe.
It is my goal to create a more resilient and sustainable approach to emergency management that will help Canada prepare for, mitigate, respond to and recover from disasters such as wildfires. That is why our government developed the country's first national adaptation strategy to support a shared vision for a resilient Canada. This strategy recognizes that it will take a whole-of-government and whole-of-society approach to tackle climate change and extreme weather, and we are committed to continuing this important work to keep Canada safe at a time when we need to come together to protect what we hold so dear in Canada and to protect communities, Canadians and Canadian businesses and livelihoods.
Climate change is not just real; it's causing our disasters, as we have seen in Jasper.
In closing, I would like to thank all emergency responders for their tireless efforts on the front lines and behind the scenes. I have another message to all the firefighters, which I said to them when I was in Jasper: It is their efforts that actually saved Jasper and allowed residents to move back in quickly and for the park to reopen.
Thank you, Mr. Chair. I'll open it up to questions.
