Backgrounder: Canada Invests to Build and Mobilize Knowledge on Wildfires

On August 12, 2025, Corey Hogan, Parliamentary Secretary to the Honourable Tim Hodgson, announced $45.7 million in funding for 30 projects across Canada through Natural Resources Canada’s Build and Mobilize Foundational Wildland Fire Knowledge.

Through this investment, we’re advancing science and demonstration projects that close knowledge gaps, strengthen wildfire risk assessments and improve mitigation and adaptive forestry practices. We are also helping Indigenous communities access the tools needed to lead on wildfire readiness in their communities and backing Indigenous-led projects that support fire stewardship.

Build and Mobilize Foundational Wildland Fire Knowledge Contribution Funding

Natural Resources Canada is investing over $41.7 million in contribution funding for 20 research and demonstration projects.

Project name: Tŝilhqot’in Active Forest Management Initiative
Recipient: Central Chilcotin Rehabilitation Ltd.
Location: Williams, British Columbia
Funding amount: $4,999,649
Description: This project aims to reduce fuel loading on the landscape through utilization of dead and damaged forest fibre.

Project name: Wildland Foundations – Fire Risk Mitigation in Indigenous Communities
Recipient: Biodiversity Pathways
Location: Mill Bay, British Columbia
Funding amount: $4,999,500
Description: This project aims to advance fire risk management through Indigenous-led strategies. Four demonstration sites across western Canada will assess the socio-economic, cultural and environmental impacts of extreme fires while developing and demonstrating mitigation and restoration practices. The project will protect traditional knowledge and practices, enhance biodiversity and reduce future fire risk.

Project name: Wildfire Resilience Through Innovation and Collaboration
Recipient: Ministry of Natural Resources
Location: Ontario
Funding amount: $3,506,800
Description: This project will reduce wildfire risk through forest harvesting and fuel treatment methods.

Project name: Proactive Management to Mitigate Wildfire Risk Across Diverse Forests of BC
Recipient: University of British Columbia
Location: Vancouver, British Columbia
Funding amount: $3,395,853
Description: This project will address critical gaps in understanding the efficacy and effectiveness of proactive wildfire risk mitigation strategies at stand-to-landscape scales across forests in British Columbia.

Project name: Indigenous-led Fire Stewardship and Adaptive Forestry in BC
Recipient: Bulkley Centre for Natural Resources Research and Management
Location: Smithers, British Columbia
Funding amount: $2,500,000
Description: In collaboration with the Cheslatta, Wet’suwet’en and Gitanyow Nations, the Bulkley Centre for Natural Resources Research and Management will implement an Indigenous-led approach to wildfire resiliency and adaptive forest management in northwest British Columbia. The project explores the relationship between wildfire risk and adaptive forestry, enhances practitioner expertise and integrates knowledge and science to inform decision-makers and the public on managing forests for multiple values in a changing fire landscape.

Project name: Enhancing Northern Community and Ecosystem Resilience to Fire
Recipient: Government of Northwest Territories
Location: Fort Smith, Northwest Territories
Funding amount: $2,499,175
Description: This project will build foundational wildfire knowledge by characterizing historic fire behaviour, evaluating the impacts and conditions of short interval reburns and analyzing long-term risks to communities under different fire suppression regimes.

Project name: Atlantic Living Lab – Collaborative Approach to Wildfire Resilience
Recipient: Canadian Interagency Forest Fire Centre (CIFFC)
Location: Winnipeg, Manitoba
Funding amount: $2,379,250
Description: This project will address critical gaps in wildfire management and community resilience in Atlantic Canada through three interconnected initiatives including a Living Lab for fire behaviour research, a study on public perception of fuel breaks and a public education demonstration site.

Project name: National Post-Fire Examination Framework
Recipient: FPInnovations
Location: Pointe-Claire, Quebec
Funding amount: $2,320,000
Description: This project will develop a framework that will standardize the way Canada studies communities that are impacted by wildfire.

Project name: Walking Together: Bridging Science + Indigenous Fire Stewardship
Recipient: Gathering Voices Society
Location: Vancouver, British Columbia
Funding amount: $2,301,750
Description: This project will implement Indigenous Fire Stewardship (IFS) treatments each spring and fall, provide a structured scientific monitoring and evaluation training and mentoring program for Yunesit’in community members and deliver additional fire stewardship training by local and international fire stewardship experts. The project will evaluate the impacts of IFS on experimental plots, analyze the effects over medium- to long-term time frames and examine the potential of IFS to produce carbon-credits for future emissions.

Project name: Advancing Forest Fuels Characterization Using LiDAR
Recipient: University of Toronto
Location: Toronto, Ontario
Funding amount: $2,248,250
Description: This project will build foundational wildfire knowledge by optimizing ground-based LiDAR protocols, cross scale fuel models to advance wildfire risk assessments and develop new approaches for characterizing fuel structures.

Project name: Weaving Indigenous Values and Technology to Manage Fire Risk
Recipient: First Nations Emergency Services Society
Location: North Vancouver, British Columbia
Funding amount: $2,246,000
Description: This project will build foundational wildfire knowledge by integrating Indigenous knowledge with advanced fire monitoring technologies to enhance wildfire risk prediction and management. The First Nations Emergency Services Society will leverage this foundational wildfire knowledge to enable Indigenous communities to lead Integrated Wildfire Management plans and restore cultural fire practices, improving wildfire resilience and adaptive capacity.

Project name: The AIMS of Pyrosilviculture
Recipient: Université Laval
Location: Quebec, Quebec
Funding amount: $2,204,704
Description: This project will provide foundational research for two demonstration sites in British Columbia and Quebec, with complementary research in Ontario. The project will assess, implement and monitor pyrosilvicultural methods — planned and controlled use of fire as a tool to manage forests — to benefit communities and promote resilient landscapes. The project will focus on adaptive silviculture for fuel management to strengthen community resilience, increase forest sector employment and create opportunities for alternative processing pathways such as bioenergy.

Project name: WUI Fire Safety in Canadian Indigenous Communities
Recipient: National Indigenous Fire Safety Council
Location: Mohawk Territory, Ontario
Funding amount: $1,500,723
Description: This project will engage with Indigenous communities and conduct scientific studies around wildland-urban interface (WUI) hazards to develop community-specific framework for wildfire preparedness and evacuation plans. The project also aims to communicate best practices and practical implementation strategies through storytelling and print.

Project name: Wildfire Knowledge & Preparedness in NunatuKavut
Recipient: NunatuKavut Community Council
Location: Happy Valley-Goose Bay, Newfoundland and Labrador
Funding amount: $1,305,880
Description: This project will support NunatuKavut Inuit communities by improving wildfire risk assessment, mitigation, and response efforts. It will also focus on assessing and mitigating wildfire risk by enhancing risk modeling and wetland mapping to fill data gaps to understand the fire impacts on wetlands and carbon dynamics. It will also implement FireSmart principles, train local firefighters and support timber harvesting to reduce fire hazards near communities.

Project name: Cloud-Based Wildfire Risk Assessment and Scenario Exploration
Recipient: Swan River First Nation (SRFN)
Location: Kinuso, Alberta
Funding amount: $891,805
Description: This project will test and refine wildfire risk assessment software by working with other stakeholders on a case study within the SRFN’s traditional territories. The tool will forecast present and future wildfire risk for any landscape in Canada based on publicly available data.

Project name: Adaptive Silviculture to Reduce Wildfire Risk
Recipient: Chuzghun Resources Corporation
Location: Fort St. James, British Columbia
Funding amount: $773,000
Description: This project will build foundational knowledge on implementing adaptive silviculture to reduce wildfire risk, advance landscape planning frameworks to identify effective fuel reduction treatments and contribute to wildfire resilience. The Chuzghun Resources Corporation will leverage this knowledge to train personnel and local research assistants and establish a demonstration site for climate-adaptive silviculture practices.

Project name: Adams Lake Indian Band Cultural Burning Project
Recipient: Adams Lake Indian Band (ALIB)
Location: Chase, British Columbia
Funding amount: $499,956
Description: This project will conduct and organize cultural burning, which supports ecological restoration and wildfire risk reduction, as well as advancing Indigenous cultural revitalization, capacity development and the stewardship of ALIB’s traditional territories.

Project name: Canadian Wildland Fire Risk Arising From Climate Change
Recipient: University of Victoria
Location: Victoria, British Columbia
Funding amount: $484,357
Description: This project will develop community wildfire mitigation strategies.

Project name: Understanding and Improving Wildfire Risk Mitigation Partnerships With Local Governments
Recipient: York University
Location: Toronto, Ontario
Funding amount: $386,303
Description: This project will identify the barriers and facilitators of effective local government engagement in wildfire risk mitigation.

Project name: Wildfire Table and Braided Knowledge Mobilization Initiative
Recipient: Capital Regional District
Location: Victoria, British Columbia
Funding amount: $345,000
Description: This project will develop an alternative governance model to address key barriers in implementing wildfire mitigation strategies on southern Vancouver Island in British Columbia.

Supporting and Mobilizing Indigenous Wildland Fire Knowledge Grant Funding

Natural Resources Canada is investing $3.9 million in grants for 10 Indigenous-led projects.  

Project name: Blood Tribe Fire Guardianship: Reigniting Kinship Relationships
Recipient: Blood Tribe
Location: Stand Off, Alberta
Funding amount: $500,000
Description: This project will disseminate fire-related knowledge to Blood Tribe community members across generations, and develop tools and resources, such as cultural burn plans, while strengthening capacity building and ways to develop cultural practices and knowledge within the Blood Tribe community.

Project name: Indigenous Fire Knowledge in Chemawawin Cree Nation
Recipient: Chemawawin Cree Nation
Location: Easterville, Manitoba
Funding amount: $500,000
Description: This project will strengthen Chemawawin Cree Nation’s capacity to manage wildfires by integrating traditional knowledge and modern science to provide community members with specialized training, develop a wildfire management plan and adopt advanced technologies such as drones and Geographic Information System software.

Project name: ka māmāwī - yak (Coming Together)
Recipient: PADC Management Co. Ltd.
Location: Prince Albert, Saskatchewan
Funding amount: $499,950
Description: This project will mobilize and demonstrate Indigenous Fire Stewardship knowledge in the Saskatchewan River Delta through cultural assessment, knowledge exchange and Indigenous-led fire practices.

Project name: o-ka-na-wē-yī-chī-kē-wak Wildfire Community Engagement
Recipient: Makwa Sahgaiehcan First Nation
Location: Loon Lake, Saskatchewan
Funding amount: $498,064
Description: This project will engage in wildfire risk reduction and develop mitigation strategies within forest management, integrating Indigenous knowledge and innovative practices to protect surrounding communities.

Project name: Mapping Wildfire Governance and Risk in Treaty #3
Recipient: Grand Council Treaty #3
Location: Kenora, Ontario
Funding amount: $492,624
Description: This project will strengthen the knowledge, expertise and networks of the Anishinaabe Nation in Treaty #3 for wildfire governance and risk assessments.

Project name: Institut de développement durable des Premières Nations du Québec et du Labrador
Recipient: Plan Sentinelle – gestion des feux de forêt des Premières Nations
Location: Wendake, Quebec
Funding amount: $466,882
Description: This project will fund activities that will strengthen the capacity of Indigenous communities to assess and manage wildfire risks on their reserves and traditional territories. First Nations will be actively involved at every stage with an emphasis on Indigenous leadership and decision-making.

Project name: Traditional Fire Knowledge in Northeastern Ontario
Recipient: Mississauga First Nation
Location: Blind River, Ontario
Funding amount: $383,864
Description: This project will explore the benefits of Indigenous fire management on Indigenous food sovereignty and forest management through a combination of archaeology, environmental science and Indigenous methodology.

Project name: Building Capacity for Indigenous-led Traditional Burns, Retention of Fire Knowledge & Practice in Community, and Prevent Knowledge Loss
Recipient: Walpole Island Land Trust
Location: Wallaceburg, Ontario
Funding amount: $350,000
Description: This project will support community retention and sharing of fire knowledge and practices.

Project name: Métis Wildfire Community Research Initiative
Recipient: BC Métis Federation
Location: Vancouver, British Columbia
Funding amount: $200,000
Description: This project will enhance wildfire resilience and inform risk strategies by establishing a baseline of wildfire experience and management for the BC Métis Federation.

Project name: Chawathil First Nation Wildfire Risk Assessment
Recipient: Chawathil First Nation
Location: Hope, British Columbia
Funding amount: $42,000
Description: This project will collect high-resolution data through video, oblique photography and orthophotos to monitor forest health and evaluate wildfire risks. The data will provide valuable insights into tree health, forest density and vegetation patterns, supporting sustainable forest management and proactive wildfire prevention.