MIL OSI Translation. Canadian French to English –
Source: Government of Canada – in French 1
The Minister of Energy and Natural Resources, the Honourable Jonathan Wilkinson, and the Minister of Natural Resources and Renewable Energy for Nova Scotia, the Honourable Tory Rushton, announced a joint investment of nearly $30 million over five years through two Government of Canada initiatives: the Fighting and Managing Wildfires in a Changing Climate (FWMC) Capital Fund and the Building Resilient Communities through FireSmart program.
October 1, 2024 Halifax, Nova Scotia Natural Resources Canada
As the frequency and severity of wildfires increase in Canada – to the detriment of our health, economy, living environments and wildlife – the governments of Canada and Nova Scotia are supporting their citizens whose lives and livelihoods are threatened by wildfires.
The Minister of Energy and Natural Resources, the Honourable Jonathan Wilkinson, and the Minister of Natural Resources and Renewable Energy for Nova Scotia, the Honourable Tory Rushton, today announced a joint investment of nearly $30 million over five years through two Government of Canada initiatives: the Equipment Fund for the Fighting and Managing Wildfires in a Changing Climate Program (CGFFCC) and the Resilient Communities through FireSmart program.
A joint investment of $25.6 million from the CGFFCC Equipment Fund will support Nova Scotia in its efforts to purchase wildfire equipment, including helicopters, fire trucks, communications vehicles, incident command trailers, weather stations, technology upgrades and personal protective equipment. By supporting the acquisition and upgrade of specialized wildfire equipment, as well as the recruitment and training of personnel to meet peak needs, this investment will improve Nova Scotia’s response capacity. It will also strengthen community and firefighter safety and the ability to share resources across Canada.
The investment builds on last year’s $169,292 contribution to the Canadian Interagency Forest Fire Centre (CIFFC) to train firefighters to fight wildfires in several Mi’kmaq communities in Nova Scotia. The contribution came from the CGFFCC Program Training Fund Natural Resources Canada (NRCan), which prioritizes support for Indigenous communities and organizations in training firefighters and provides NRCan with a better understanding of the needs and barriers in this area. Staff from CIFFC and the Nova Scotia Department of Natural Resources and Renewable Energy provided this training to 21 Mi’kmaq firefighters in 2023.
Through the Building Resilient Communities through FireSmart program, Nova Scotia and NRCan will invest up to $3.9 million over five years to support fire preparedness, risk reduction and the expansion of FireSmart principles and practices in Nova Scotia. With this funding, Nova Scotia will provide education and awareness related to wildfire prevention and mitigation at the community level. The funding will be used to build capacity to better assess fire risk and develop tools to support prevention and mitigation. This initial investment is part of a series of joint investments to help provinces and territories advance FireSmart principles and practices to prevent and mitigate wildfire impacts.
While strengthening our ability to fight wildfires when they occur is critical, we also need to make proactive investments to reduce risks in the first place. The federal government has invested on both fronts by helping fire departments across the country better prepare for and respond to wildfires and by implementing community-based measures to prevent wildfires and reduce their impacts.
The governments of Canada and Nova Scotia have the health and safety of Canadians as their top priority. Working with provinces, territories, Indigenous communities and international allies, the federal government continues to support and lead the fight against wildfires to keep our communities safe by protecting the lives, health, livelihoods and homes of our citizens from coast to coast to coast.
Cindy CaturaoPress SecretaryOffice of the Minister of Energy and Natural Resources613-795-5638cindy.caturao@nrcan-rncan.gc.ca
Patricia JreigeCommunications AdvisorNova Scotia Department of Natural Resources and Renewable Energy902-718-7866media.spsa@gov.sk.ca
EDITOR’S NOTE: This article is a translation. Apologies should the grammar and/or sentence structure not be perfect.