Forests Canada’s Response to the Senate of Canada Report: Canada on fire

Forests Canada welcomes the Standing Senate Committee on Agriculture and Forestry’s June 10, 2026, report Canada on fire: The catastrophic and escalating effects of wildfires on lives and communities, and its clear and timely recognition that Canada is facing an escalating wildfire crisis requiring urgent, coordinated national action.

The report reinforces what communities, practitioners, and Indigenous partners have been experiencing firsthand: wildfire risk in Canada is intensifying rapidly, driven by climate change and compounded by gaps in prevention, preparedness, and recovery systems. With record-breaking fire seasons in 2023, 2024, and 2025, existing approaches are no longer sufficient.

Forests Canada strongly supports the report’s call for:

• Increased federal leadership and coordination, and stronger collaboration with Indigenous communities and across jurisdictions.
• Significant investment in prevention, mitigation, and recovery.
• A national reforestation strategy to restore forests after fire, emphasizing sound practices, decision-making, and long-term stewardship.
• Recognizing that Canada’s forests are a national strategic asset – critical, renewable infrastructure that supports ecological stability, economic prosperity, and community well-being.

These recommendations align closely with Forests Canada’s work across the country and reflect the urgent need to shift from a reactive approach to a proactive, systems-based model of recovery.

First and foremost, Forests Canada echoes the report’s finding that Indigenous communities are disproportionately impacted by wildfires while remaining under-resourced. Indigenous leadership is essential to building a more resilient and sustainable future for Canada’s forests, which includes the opportunity to restore forests in a community-centred way that is led by Traditional Knowledge and practices.

Forests Canada Perspective

1. From Response to Resilience

The Senate report clearly shows that wildfire impacts now extend far beyond suppression capacity, to include long-term environmental, health, social, and economic consequences. Forests Canada agrees that Canada must scale up prevention and mitigation, including landscape-level restoration and invest in nature-based solutions – such as strategic tree planting and ecosystem restoration where appropriate and needed – guided by prioritization and best practices. Our recent Forest Restoration After Wildfire report makes clear that post-fire recovery is becoming more complex, with changing conditions affecting natural regeneration and requiring more targeted intervention. This means that our work needs to be strategic, driven by sound decision-making, and ensure that investments are going where they are needed most.

2. Forest Recovery Is a National Priority

We welcome the report’s call for a national reforestation/forest recovery strategy, a critical step in ensuring burned landscapes recover in ways that are climate-resilient and ecologically appropriate. In some cases, natural regeneration is not happening as expected, and landscapes are recovering more slowly or not at all. Strategic tree planting and forest restoration are needed in some regions to ensure forest recovery while recognizing that species selection, site preparation, and climate adaption are evolving. This strategy would recognize the important leadership role that provinces, territories and Indigenous nations play in overseeing and guiding practices on the ground.

A national approach must:

• Prioritize the right tree, the right place, the right purpose, and the right way.
• Address funding gaps for post-fire restoration.
• Align with long-term climate, biodiversity, and forest resilience goals.

Forests Canada recently launched a National Working Group on Post-fire Forest Recovery Practices, which should be seen as an opportunity to explore best practices, approaches, coordination, and investment while providing important guidance in the development of a national strategy.

3. A Coordinated National Approach Is Essential

Forests Canada supports the recommendation to strengthen national coordination and emphasizes that success will require alignment across federal, provincial, territorial, and Indigenous governments as well as collaboration with NGOs, industry, and local communities. It will also require consistent, long-term funding and investments to enable strategic, successful forest recovery. Collective action and response can lead to collective impact across Canada’s forest landscapes and beyond. Forests Canada’s Commitment Forests Canada is committed to supporting the implementation of this report through:

• Advancing post-fire restoration best practices through our National Working Group.
• Scaling high-quality tree planting and stewardship across Canada, leveraging our investment through the 2 Billion Trees program.
• Mobilizing partnerships to deliver measurable, science-based outcomes for communities nationwide.
• Providing expertise and data to inform policy and investment decisions.

In closing, the report is a critical milestone in recognizing the scale of Canada’s wildfire crisis—and the opportunity for forest recovery.

Forests Canada is ready to work with governments, Indigenous partners, and stakeholders to restore forest landscapes, strengthen community resilience, and ensure Canada’s forests continue to provide environmental, economic, and social benefits for generations to come.