Question Period Note: Wildland Fires and First Nations and Métis Support

• Indigenous Services Canada, Public Safety Canada and Crown Indigenous Relations and Northern Affairs Canada have been, and will continue to, work with on and off reserve First Nation communities, Inuit, and Métis leadership, to support community health, safety and infrastructure.
• Looking towards the future, we will continue to support Indigenous communities, including Métis settlements, to build back in a manner that will protect from future emergency events.

• Since the beginning of the 2023 Wildland Fire season, there have been 73 wildland fire events impacting First Nations, of which 18 remain active.
• There are currently 18 First Nations impacted due to Wildland Fire (5 AB, 2 SK, 1 NT, 6 QC, 2 NS, 2 ON).
• There are 14 First Nations evacuated due to Wildland Fire (5 AB, 2 SK, 1 NT, 5 QC, 1 NS).
o There are approximately 5,942 evacuees from First Nations on reserve.
• Indigenous Services Canada’s Emergency Management Assistance Program is the government’s primary program for assisting on-reserve First Nation communities such as emergency events.
• EMAP provides funding to First Nations communities so they can build resiliency, prepare for natural hazards and respond to them using the 4 pillars of emergency management: mitigation; preparedness; response; recovery.
• The program also provides funding to provinces, territories and non-government organizations to support on-reserve emergency management.
• Public Safety Canada’s Disaster Financial Assistance Arrangements program (DFAA) provides financial assistance to provincial and territorial governments when response and recovery costs exceed what individual provinces and territories could reasonably be expected to bear on their own. This fund may be used to assist off-reserve and Metis communities.

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