No.
Evidence of meeting #123 for Environment and Sustainable Development in the 44th Parliament, 1st Session. (The original version is on Parliament’s site, as are the minutes.) The winning word was fire.
A recording is available from Parliament.
Evidence of meeting #123 for Environment and Sustainable Development in the 44th Parliament, 1st Session. (The original version is on Parliament’s site, as are the minutes.) The winning word was fire.
A recording is available from Parliament.
Vice-President, Protected Areas Establishment and Conservation, Parks Canada Agency
No.
Vice-President, Protected Areas Establishment and Conservation, Parks Canada Agency
No.
Liberal
Leah Taylor Roy Liberal Aurora—Oak Ridges—Richmond Hill, ON
Thank you very much, Mr. Chair.
Mr. Campbell, we spoke earlier about the people who are on the ground in Jasper. I want to go back. There have been allegations and insinuations that not enough was done to prepare for and to deal with this fire, yet I've heard from you and from the minister that there was incredible collaboration between all levels of government and that the people on the ground were working really well together.
I'm just wondering if you feel that there was any lack of co-operation or collaboration, or do you have this impression that everyone on the ground was working together for the same goal?
Senior Vice-President, Operations, Parks Canada Agency
Yes, we had excellent collaboration on the ground.
Liberal
Leah Taylor Roy Liberal Aurora—Oak Ridges—Richmond Hill, ON
Is there anything, learning from this experience, that you would have changed about the way that it was handled? I know you had the incident commander, and you had a lot of different parties working together under his command. Is there anything there that you would have changed?
Senior Vice-President, Operations, Parks Canada Agency
We've done the initial view of what has gone on, but we are going to do a deep dive with our colleagues within the Government Operations Centre on what we can learn.
There are always things to learn out of every situation. We would be foolish to say that there was nothing to learn or nothing to do better. We always do a post-review to learn, to do better.
Liberal
Leah Taylor Roy Liberal Aurora—Oak Ridges—Richmond Hill, ON
Great. Thank you. That's important.
Go ahead, Ms. Upton.
Vice-President, Protected Areas Establishment and Conservation, Parks Canada Agency
I would add that all of the prep and everything we do is based on the norms, the science and the data. What this fire has shown us is that there are things happening that are completely outside of the norm.
There are researchers now studying fire tornadoes. It's only been documented once. They believe it happened in Jasper. Will that, in the future, change how we prepare? Potentially it will, but these are new phenomena that we don't know a lot about. We can only prepare based on the best available data and by looking at where the values at risk are. There is deadwood in forests around the world. We can't clear it all, so we're focused on priority areas and risks.
Liberal
Leah Taylor Roy Liberal Aurora—Oak Ridges—Richmond Hill, ON
Thank you very much.
I was wondering about the people on the ground in Jasper who work as the experts, the people who are managing forest fires. We've heard comments that combatting climate change isn't working because there are still forest fires. What is the general feeling of the people in Jasper or of the people who work in this area? Do they believe that fighting climate change is necessary to actually curb further fire tornadoes or cyclones or whatever you want to call them? Do they believe that the action the government is taking to fight climate change is necessary to help them?
Vice-President, Protected Areas Establishment and Conservation, Parks Canada Agency
I think it's hard to say what people believe, in answer to that question. The incident commander noted that in his experience, which is vast, things are different. Things are more intense. The seasons are longer. The evidence we're seeing on the ground is that things are changing, and they're changing rapidly.
Liberal
Leah Taylor Roy Liberal Aurora—Oak Ridges—Richmond Hill, ON
Thank you very much.
Thank you, Mr. Chair.
Liberal
Bloc
Monique Pauzé Bloc Repentigny, QC
Ms. Upton, we've heard about fires and structures. I would now like to ask you about insects.
The fact sheet provided by the Library of Parliament analysts talks about mountain pine beetle infestations, which eventually kill the host trees.
This is another impact of climate change. There are more fires, but also more insects. Times are changing when it comes to climate and biodiversity. We must always be ready to respond.
How has the mountain pine beetle infestation in trees affected forest fire risks and forest fire behaviour in Jasper?
Vice-President, Protected Areas Establishment and Conservation, Parks Canada Agency
We've been working on managing the impacts of the mountain pine beetle in Jasper since 1985. In 2016, a mountain pine beetle management plan was created for Jasper in collaboration with the Canadian Forest Service and Alberta Agriculture. We received funding of $6.9 million that allowed us to start to implement some of the actions in that plan. A lot of the firebreak....
Again, the actions are focused where the greatest values at risk are, so a lot of that work was focused around the townsite to build the breaks and clear the forest.
Bloc
Monique Pauzé Bloc Repentigny, QC
Before my time runs out, I would like to ask another question.
You have been conducting research since 2016. What does this research show about the impact of climate change on insect infestations?
Liberal
The Chair Liberal Francis Scarpaleggia
Unfortunately, the time is up. However, I'm almost certain that climate change is affecting infestations.
Ms. Collins, you have the floor.
NDP
Laurel Collins NDP Victoria, BC
Thank you, Mr. Chair.
We know indigenous people are disproportionately impacted by wildfires. I think indigenous people make up less than 6% of the population, but more than 42% of wildfire evacuations have been from majority indigenous communities.
These communities have also been leading on solutions. Jasper is on Treaty 6 and Treaty 8 territories. The lands have been used as meeting grounds and travelling routes for many nations, and they have been home to nations since time immemorial. According to the Municipality of Jasper, over 26 indigenous partners are connected to the area presently.
Many indigenous communities in Canada have used controlled fire as a traditional land management practice. Supporting these cultural burning practices can help reduce the risk of out-of-control wildfires. Can you tell us a bit about the role of indigenous guardians in managing wildfires in Jasper?
Senior Vice-President, Operations, Parks Canada Agency
In Jasper specifically, there is no indigenous guardians program doing part of the controlled burn.
NDP
Laurel Collins NDP Victoria, BC
Can you tell us whether there is a plan to look into incorporating some of the nations connected to this land? Are there lessons learned from neighbouring regions about how this could help improve our management of wildfires?
Vice-President, Protected Areas Establishment and Conservation, Parks Canada Agency
We recently brought in an indigenous fire specialist at Parks Canada. They're helping us take a look at the program through that lens. There are places where cultural burns are happening, which are quite different from prescribed burns. They are actually very different.
We are consulting. We have an expert who will help us look at indigenous practices and how we can incorporate some of those into our fire management program.
Liberal
