The Smoke Screen: Blame Game Over Canada’s Wildfires Misses the Bigger Picture

Mon Sep 29 2025 01:53:46 GMT+0300 (Eastern European Summer Time)

As Canada faces its worst wildfire season, American lawmakers are criticizing Canadian authorities for the resultant smoke impacting U.S. air quality. However, experts warn that climate change is the real culprit behind the escalating wildfires.

In the wake of Canada’s devastating wildfires, U.S. politicians have pointed fingers at Canadian authorities for the smoke affecting air quality in the Midwest. Despite growing urgency for accountability, experts highlight that climate change is the primary driver of the recent uptick in wildfires, which are threatening health and safety on both sides of the border. The discourse surrounding blame overshadows essential cooperative efforts needed to address this urgent ecological crisis.

As deadly wildfires raged in the Canadian province of Manitoba this summer, Republican lawmakers in nearby U.S. states penned letters asking that Canada be held accountable for the smoke drifting south.

Our skies are being choked by wildfire smoke we didn't start and can't control, wrote Calvin Callahan, a Republican state representative from Wisconsin, in a letter dated early August. Callahan, along with lawmakers from Iowa, Minnesota and North Dakota, filed a formal complaint with the U.S. Environmental Protection Agency (EPA) urging an investigation into Canada's wildfire management.

Manitoba premier Wab Kinew quickly condemned the move, accusing the lawmakers of throwing a timber tantrum and playing political games.

By August, the wildfires had scorched more than two million acres in Manitoba, forced thousands to evacuate, and killed two people – a married couple who authorities said were trapped by fast-moving flames around their family home.

As September draws to a close, data shows that 2025 is on track to be Canada's second-worst wildfire season on record.

A study published in the Nature journal in September has revealed that smoke from Canada's wildfires has had far-reaching, fatal consequences. It estimates that the 2023 wildfires - the country's worst on record by area burned - caused more than 87,500 acute and premature deaths worldwide, including 4,100 acute, smoke-related deaths in the U.S. and over 22,000 premature deaths in Europe.

Wildfire smoke contains PM2.5 - a type of air pollution - that is known to trigger inflammation in the body. It can exacerbate conditions like asthma and heart disease, and, in some causes, can damage neural connections in the brain.

For some American lawmakers, the blame falls squarely on Canada. Canada's failure to contain massive wildfires, Callahan asserted, has harmed the health and quality of life of more than 20 million Americans in the Midwest. Their complaints raise the question: Could Canada be doing more to curb its wildfires – and by extension, their smoke?

Climate and fire experts in both countries told the BBC that the answer is largely no. Until we as a global society deal with human-caused climate change, we’re going to have this problem, commented Mike Flannigan, an emergency management and fire science expert at Thompson Rivers University in British Columbia.

Metrics indicate that Canada's wildfires, a natural part of its vast boreal forest, have worsened in recent years. Fire season now starts earlier, ends later, and burns more land on average. The 2023 fires razed 15 million hectares (37 million acres) – an area larger than England – while the 2025 blazes have to date burned 8.7 million hectares (21.5 million acres).

As of mid-September, there are still more than 500 fires burning, primarily in British Columbia and Manitoba. Experts warn that hotter temperatures are making the land drier and more prone to ignition.

Wildfires are not only worsening in Canada, but the U.S. has recently faced some of its most damaging blazes, including the 2023 Hawaii wildfires that killed at least 102 people, and the Palisades fire in January, the most destructive in Los Angeles history. Both countries have struggled to keep pace, often sharing firefighting resources.

In Canada, strained resources – and worsening fires – have sparked calls for a national firefighting service, as wildfire emergency response is currently handled separately by each province and territory. The system we have right now worked 40 years ago. Today? Not so much, Flannigan argued.

While some propose controlled burns and better management of flammable materials as solutions, the challenge remains that even preventive measures would still generate smoke. In August, Canada pledged over $47 million for research projects to help communities better prepare for and mitigate wildfires.

Nevertheless, experts warn there is little Canada can do to prevent wildfires altogether. Jen Beverly, a wildland fire professor at the University of Alberta, stated, These are high intensity fire ecosystems in Canada, that are complex to manage under extreme conditions exacerbated by climate change.

Ultimately, the ongoing debate surrounding legal complaints and policy responses obscures the collaboration required to address the crisis effectively. As signaled by the chaotic conditions of this year's fire seasons, both countries must forge stronger ties in ecological strategies rather than deflect blame.