Across Canada, nearly 1,000 wildfires are burning — almost 200 in northern Ontario. Thousands of people have been displaced, and at least two First Nations communities have been destroyed.
Smoke from the wildfires has drifted south into the northeastern U.S., and that’s sparked criticisms from president Donald Trump's administration and other Republican politicians.
In a social media post, Trump said he’s holding Canada responsible for not maintaining their forests and the U.S. being unnecessarily invaded by pollution and unhealthy air. The costs, he added, will be added to the tariffs against Canada.
But Ontario Premier Doug Ford was quick to push back.
"I truly believe the Americans are good neighbors," he said. "If there’s some politicians out there chirping away, well, maybe what you should do rather than complain is send support. Send help."
And others like Dimitris Soudas, a communications director in the government of former prime minister Stephen Harper, said Canada has about 9% of the world’s forests — much of it remote wilderness. Wildfires, he said, do not recognize international borders, and Canada didn't blame the U.S. for the smoke from fires in California, Oregon or Washington. Fighting the fires is a shared continental challenge, not a Canadian one.
Ecology professor Stephen Porder of Brown University said the real blame lies elsewhere.
"Until we cut that fossil fuel use down to zero and start to actually stop the warming and start the cooling, we can do it," Porder said. "It’s a question of whether we want to. It’s ridiculous to blame Canada."
Meanwhile in northern Ontario, at least a dozen communities have been on evacuation notices or alerts. Thousands of people are on the move, scrambling to reach safety. Accommodations in Thunder Bay, about 600 miles north of Toronto, are full, and Ford said people are being taken farther south.
"Evacuees are being hosted in Thunder Bay, Kenora, Fort Francis Lac Soult, Sioux Lookout, Sudbury, Red Lake, Niagara Falls and Toronto," he said. "My message to all those who’ve been forced to evacuate is very simple: Our government stands with you and will always have your backs."
At least one remote First Nation community in northern Ontario has burned to the ground by a devastating wildfire. Residents fled Collins First Nation by boat, many having only time to gather some personal belongings.
"It was just a matter of minutes before my members would have died," said Chief Helen Paavola. "And even during that whole time, there was no help."
Collins is only one of 10 communities — indigenous and non indigenous — that have been evacuated as wildfires ripped through the region.
The Assembly of First Nations is calling on Ottawa for help, including financial support.
Linda Debassige, the Grand Council Chief of the Anishinabek Nation, said when the wildfire first approached the community, the chief herself tried to contact government officials, but they said they were not aware of the fire.
"Had the community waited for the official emergency response activation, this would be a recovery mission at this point in time, which is unfathomable," she said.
One of the problems is that the Collins First Nation is not federally recognized as an official Indigenous First Nation.
As for the federal government, Defense Minister David McGuinty said the Minister for Emergency Preparedness has been engaged with the situation for the past couple of weeks.
"We’re on standby," McGuinty said. "Our personnel’s on standby. Equipment’s on standby. But we are helping under other authorities now to airlift people out, to move people out."
With the wildfire season in full swing, it’s unlikely the smoky haze drifting south is over. Researchers say there have been more hazy skies in the past five years than in the previous 20. They say as global temperatures continue to break records, the forests are getting drier, and climate change will extend wildfire seasons.
