- Istimewa
VIVA – Canada is currently facing devastating, uncontrollable, painful and heartbreaking wildfires, according to Canadian Prime Minister (PM) Justin Trudeau on Monday.
"We stand with the hundreds of brave women and men fighting wildfires across the country," Minister Trudeau said in a press conference.
He emphasized that Canada is currently facing a "very severe wildfire season". Canada is working with countries such as New Zealand, South Africa, and France to put out the fires.
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"So far, we have approved three requests for federal assistance in Alberta, Nova Scotia and Quebec. This assistance includes deploying members of the Canadian Armed Forces to assist in firefighting roles, airlift resources, and engineering support," he stated.
Canada continues to train firefighters through the Wildfire Training Fund, a government initiative that supports more than 300 firefighters, and 125 Indigenous firefighters who will be hired and trained this season.
So far in 2023, there have been 2,214 wildfires across the country, and about 3.3 million hectares have burned, Public Safety Minister Bill Blair told the press.
"There are currently 413 wildfires still burning and 249 of them are considered out of control," Blair said.
"There are also 18 active wildfires specifically impacting Indigenous Canadians, with six fires in Alberta, five in Saskatchewan, one in the Northwest Territories, four in Quebec and two in Nova Scotia," he added.
As of Monday, June 5, about 26,000 people had been evacuated from their homes, he said. Canada has been facing wildfires since early May.
There are currently more than 1,000 firefighters helping fight the fires from the United States, Australia, New Zealand and South Africa. Canada is expecting additional firefighters from France.
