Here's where Canadians are living abroad: report
A recent report sheds light on Canadians living abroad--estimated at around four million people in 2016—and the public policies that impact them.
Canada should be on "high alert" for 2024 wildfires, a scientist with the Canadian Forest Service said Friday, as he offered a sweeping view of last year's record-shattering season.
Research scientist Piyush Jain stopped short of giving a prediction for the upcoming season during Friday's briefing. But he presented a number of charts showing certain indicators, such as drought conditions and soil moisture, look similar to around this time last year.
He also pointed to temperature forecasts that predict a hotter than normal start to the wildfire season.
"I do not have a crystal ball," he said. "But, yeah, I guess most people will be able to piece together that we should be on high alert for 2024."
Jain spent Friday's briefing going through a far-reaching and data-centric retrospective of the 2023 wildfire season. More people were evacuated and more area was burned last year than during any other Canadian wildfire season on record.
Widespread drought conditions, early snowmelt and lower than usual precipitation were some of the drivers of last year's record-breaking season, he said.
Jain also pointed to research showing how climate change, fuelled by the release of greenhouse gases from the burning of fossil fuels, is also contributing to longer and more intense wildfire seasons.
He cited a study put together by a team of scientists, including some of his forest service colleagues, that zeroed in on northern Quebec's wildfire season. That study found human-caused climate change made it seven times more likely to see a season with the same fire severity as 2023, and doubled the likelihood of extreme fire weather conditions.
The wildfires impacted "every single person living in Canada," and was "seared into our collective consciousness," he said.
Wildfire smoke choked the skies across Canada, closing schools and shutting down outdoor events. Canadians, per capita, experienced eight days of poor air quality, he said, but just how hazardous that air quality was and how many days it lasted varied drastically from place to place.
He said the Northwest Territories had a "staggering" 44 days with "very poor air quality," while Toronto had 14 and Vancouver had four.
Parts of northern Alberta spent 135 days under air quality alerts, so many that a new colour had to be added to the colour-coded map tracking those alerts, he said.
Jain presented data showing Canadian wildfires in 2023 burned through more than 15 million hectares, an area larger than the entire state of New York and almost three times larger than Nova Scotia.
That total is about three million hectares less than what had been previously, and widely, reported. He said that's largely because fine-grained analysis strips out some water bodies, such as lakes, that don't get captured by real-time satellite data when the fires are burning.
Quebec led the way with nearly 4.5 million hectares burned, followed by the Northwest Territories, Alberta and British Columbia -- a record for each province and territory.
About 240,000 people were evacuated due to wildfire. Five of the largest wildfire-induced evacuations since 1980 took place last year, including Yellowknife and West Kelowna.
But Jain said there were fewer total fires than the average year. Twenty of the largest fires in 2023 were responsible for half of the total area burned.
Historically, 75 per cent of fires were lightning-caused resulting in 91 per cent of the total area burned. But in 2023, 59 per cent of the fires were caused by lightning, resulting in 93 per cent of the total area burned.
A recent report sheds light on Canadians living abroad--estimated at around four million people in 2016—and the public policies that impact them.
Polish President Andrzej Duda says while no decision has been made around whether Poland will host nuclear weapons as part of an expansion of the NATO alliance’s nuclear sharing program, his country is willing and prepared to do so.
Harvey Weinstein’s lawyer said Saturday that the onetime movie mogul has been hospitalized for a battery of tests after his return to New York City following an appeals court ruling nullifying his 2020 rape conviction.
One person was killed in a six-vehicle crash on Highway 400 in Innisfil Friday evening.
Ontario is now home to an invasive and toxic worm species that can grow up to three feet long and can be dangerous to small animals and pets.
A number of LGBQT+2s groups in Central Alberta are pushing back against a request from the Red Deer South UCP constituency to reinstate MLA Jennifer Johnson into the UCP caucus.
It's one thing to say you like Taylor Swift and her music, but don't blame CNN's AJ Willingham's when she says she just 'doesn't get' the global phenomenon.
Sophie Gregoire Trudeau says there is 'still so much love' between her and Prime Minister Justin Trudeau, as they navigate their post-separation relationship co-parenting their three children.
A girl and a boy, both 14 years old, made their first appearance today in a Halifax courtroom, where they each face a second-degree murder charge in the stabbing death of a 16-year-old high school student.
As if a 4-0 Edmonton Oilers lead in Game 1 of their playoff series with the Los Angeles Kings wasn't good enough, what was announced at Rogers Place during the next TV timeout nearly blew the roof off the downtown arena.
Mounties in Nanaimo, B.C., say two late-night revellers are lucky their allegedly drunken antics weren't reported to police after security cameras captured the men trying to steal a heavy sign from a downtown business.
A property tax bill is perplexing a small townhouse community in Fergus, Ont.
When identical twin sisters Kim and Michelle Krezonoski were invited to compete against some of the world’s most elite female runners at last week’s Boston Marathon, they were in disbelief.
The giant stone statues guarding the Lions Gate Bridge have been dressed in custom Vancouver Canucks jerseys as the NHL playoffs get underway.
A local Oilers fan is hoping to see his team cut through the postseason, so he can cut his hair.
A family from Laval, Que. is looking for answers... and their father's body. He died on vacation in Cuba and authorities sent someone else's body back to Canada.
A former educational assistant is calling attention to the rising violence in Alberta's classrooms.
The federal government says its plan to increase taxes on capital gains is aimed at wealthy Canadians to achieve “tax fairness.”