Prime minister meets Armed Forces members battling wildfires across Canada

By Firdevs Bulut Kartal

TORONTO (AA) - Canadian Prime Minister Justin Trudeau met with Canadian Armed Forces on Wednesday and provided an update on the wildfires that have been raging across the country.

He thanked all who have continued to fight the fires.

"International assistance is a sustainable situation. It happens every year across the planet because the forest fire seasons are not the same from one hemisphere to the other. And these countries who helped us today know that they can rely on our assistance to them," Trudeau said when asked if Canada will find a more sustainable solution than receiving international help.

Emphasizing that climate change will unfortunately bring about more extreme weather events, Trudeau said Canada needs to continue looking at how to prepare for the coming years and work better together.

The country put in place a national adaptation strategy encompassing billions of dollars to invest and find ways to help municipalities adapt to the significant effects of extreme weather events, he said when asked how Canada is helping Indigenous communities affected by forest fires.

Canada continues to battle wildfires with 186 blazes still uncontrolled, according to Natural Resources Canada.

There are 107 fires that are under control.

A total of 3.7 million hectares of forests have been effected by the fires in Canada since the beginning of 2023.