Report warns of 'spiralling cycle'
A new report from federal housing advocate Marie-Josee Houle warns that First Nations are stuck in a “spiralling cycle” during wildfire seasons, driven by a lack of co-ordinated emergency management supports and a severe housing gap. The report, released Monday alongside the Assembly of First Nations (AFN), examines the 2025 wildfire season, which it describes as the second-worst on record, with 165 emergency events impacting 134 First Nations.
The report notes that more than 40,000 people were evacuated by mid-August from at least 83 communities. Houle says in the report that “the risk of wildfires is not new to First Nations, but the authority and the resourcing First Nations need to manage emergencies and steward their territories with traditional knowledge have been undermined.” She emphasizes that “traditional knowledge should not only be respected but actively supported and funded as part of modern emergency governance and climate adaptation. Otherwise, the ability of First Nations to protect their communities is severely compromised."
Systemic gaps and uneven responses
The report says wildfire displacement is becoming a feature of life for First Nations, linked to pre-existing housing and infrastructure gaps. Climate change is making wildfire seasons worse, with drier conditions causing fires to spread more rapidly. While there are not necessarily more fires, the report notes they are becoming more intense, with a longer season and limited ability to extinguish them.
AFN National Chief Cindy Woodhouse Nepinak said that while the report looked at the 2025 season, this year has also been devastating for First Nations, including the total loss of one community in northern Ontario. She added that there are systemic gaps in emergency responses that threaten the safety and dignity of First Nations and their right to housing.
In 2025, First Nations often received little or no advance warning of changing conditions, and some were ignored by provincial governments. In Manitoba, both the Assembly of Manitoba Chiefs and the Manitoba Keewatinowi Okimakanak called for supports for northern First Nations that had declared a state of emergency, but the province did not respond for 10 days. First Nations in northern Saskatchewan made similar calls for support and received a slow response from the province. Without action from provincial governments, the federal government cannot respond to emergencies.
Unprepared municipalities and difficult experiences
Supports varied by jurisdiction during the evacuations. Some municipalities and Indigenous organizations worked together to support evacuees, while some municipalities were entirely unprepared for the numbers and needs of evacuees, and some were unwilling to receive them at all.
The report describes difficult experiences during evacuations. Mass evacuation centres grouped everyone together, meaning elders with health conditions were made to sleep on cots, and some victims of abuse were forced to stay in the same centres as their abusers. Some hotels treated evacuees poorly, barring access to facilities like the gym or pool. The report says some evacuees were told to pick up meals at a back entrance and were not allowed to enter hotel restaurants.
The report also says that First Nations women, children, and youth became magnets for human traffickers, who, along with drug dealers, gained easy access to the hotels where they were staying. Many evacuees returned to their communities ill or in worse health than they had been.
The report also notes that it can be difficult for First Nations to insure their homes; premiums can be prohibitive, and communities are generally underinsured.
Recommendations and broader economic backdrop
The report and the Assembly of First Nations offer 10 recommendations, including developing a national emergency management strategy to coordinate between First Nations and federal and provincial governments. Other recommendations include investing in First Nations-led fire safety and monitoring, and improving on-reserve infrastructure.
These infrastructure and housing gaps are well-documented. A 2024 report from the AFN and the Conference Board of Canada found that closing the First Nations infrastructure gap could generate $635 billion in economic output over seven years, with costs pegged at $349 billion. The federal auditor-general said that closing that gap would also require building more than 55,000 new housing units and repairing another 80,000.
Houle and the AFN argue that the infrastructure gap is not the result of poor choices by individuals or First Nations leadership, but rather reflects a system where laws and policies have been used to isolate and marginalize First Nations. In a media statement, Houle said: “Governments must work in full partnership with First Nations to shift from reactive emergency responses to preventative, rights-based approaches grounded in First Nations leadership.”