As wildfire seasons become longer and more extreme, the Government of Canada is focused on keeping people safe while strengthening our long-term response. Countries are increasingly looking to their allies to provide mutual aid during wildfire emergencies and other extreme weather events. As Canada faces a current wildfire season that has already been among the worst, we are strengthening our shared work with allies.
Today, the Honourable Jonathan Wilkinson, Canada's Minister of Natural Resources, and David L. Cohen, United States Ambassador to Canada, signed an arrangement that strengthens the two countries' long-standing cooperation to combat wildland fires and protect communities in the face of this climate change-driven threat.
This Memorandum of Understanding (MOU) between Natural Resources Canada and the United States of America's Departments of Agriculture and the Interior builds on and furthers the historic, decades-long relationship on the exchange of wildland fire management resources between the two countries by:
● setting out procedures for the exchange of these resources; and
● establishing a framework that encourages mutual assistance and cooperation.
Through this arrangement, Canada and the United States of America are providing enhanced protection for their citizens by ensuring a more efficient exchange of wildfire suppression resources across international borders. It also facilitates information-sharing that expands wildland fire management knowledge.
Prior to this MOU, reciprocal wildfire support was predicated on several individual arrangements and processes and was focused solely on suppression. This arrangement will ensure that mutual aid is efficiently and effectively deployed where it is needed most, on both sides of the border, by expanding the scope of cooperation to include prevention, research, innovation, technical cooperation and risk mitigation.
Under the arrangement, both countries acknowledge the benefits of continuing to work collectively across their borders through shared values. This arrangement, and other initiatives like it, show how international collaboration can help countries manage the increasing challenges of extreme weather events in the face of climate change.
Canada and the United States will continue to work together to adapt to and mitigate the effects of climate change, protecting communities, livelihoods and our environment for generations to come.
