Overview

• The province remains under its second provincewide state of emergency as wildfires have scorched over one million hectares and displaced about 12,600 people
• The Canadian Armed Forces have airlifted more than 3,000 residents from fly-in communities to Winnipeg makeshift shelters and convention centres
• Thick smoke drifting into U.S. Midwest states prompted six Republican congressmen to demand a Canadian plan for forest management and smoke mitigation
• Premier Wab Kinew dismissed the U.S. lawmakers as “ambulance chasers,” accusing them of politicizing the crisis and overlooking heroic firefighting efforts
• Natural Resources Canada highlighted longstanding bilateral firefighting cooperation, while experts say climate change–driven heat and drought underlie the season’s severity