New report calls for improved emergency responses for First Nations

OTTAWA, ON, Aug. 24, 2026 /CNW/ -- In a report launched today, the Federal Housing Advocate is calling for new measures to better protect First Nations communities experiencing climate-driven emergencies and wildfires. The report Maintaining the right to housing in a changing climate, published in collaboration with the Assembly of First Nations (AFN), points to systemic gaps in emergency responses that threaten the safety, dignity, and right to housing of First Nations communities.

Following the devastating 2025 wildfire season that impacted 134 First Nations and led to over 40,000 people being evacuated, the Advocate and the AFN began to explore the intersections of climate change, emergency management and the right to housing. In developing the report, the Advocate and the AFN heard from First Nations leaders, experts, and rightsholders with lived experience of evacuation and displacement.

The Advocate and the AFN heard that current emergency systems do not work for First Nations' communities. They are reactive and focused on evacuation and recovery, instead of prevention and long-term resilience. At the same time, First Nations are operating in a context of systemic underfunding and lack of self-determination, including in the area of housing. Taken together, these conditions put people at greater risk and make it difficult to ensure safe, adequate housing – before, during, and after emergencies.

The experiences documented in the report point to a failure to uphold First Nations citizens' fundamental rights, including to adequate housing. Many evacuations occurred in remote First Nations communities with severe housing and infrastructure gaps that make them more vulnerable to displacement – from overcrowded housing and homes in need of major repair, to limited infrastructure for fire prevention and response. Meanwhile, evacuees said they experienced unsafe evacuation conditions, separation from family, and an absence of cultural supports. With indefinite timelines to restore their homes to safety or return to their communities, many evacuees faced housing precarity and increased risks of homelessness.

The report makes 10 recommendations to prioritize what First Nations need to protect their communities. They include a focus on taking climate action, improving the full spectrum of emergency management and preparedness, including First Nations as full partners in planning and coordinating emergency responses for their communities, and ensuring resilient and adequate housing and infrastructure.

Despite many challenges, there are powerful examples of Indigenous-led solutions that can guide national practice. The Advocate is calling for a transformation: towards approaches that are preventative, rights-based, and grounded in First Nations leadership and ways of knowing to future-proof communities and ensure everyone can have adequate housing in a changing climate.

Quotes

"Climate-driven emergencies are exposing and deepening long-standing housing and infrastructure inequities in First Nations communities. The right to adequate housing does not disappear during a wildfire, flood, evacuation, or recovery. 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. Now is the time to act to keep communities safe and housed in a changing climate."
–Marie-Josée Houle, Federal Housing Advocate

"Year after year, First Nations are stricken by devastating climate-driven emergencies and their aftermath. These are revealing heightened vulnerabilities and systemic gaps in emergency services and resources for First Nations. It is time for the Government of Canada to make generational investments in First Nations to prepare for climate change and extreme climate events. This must include closing the infrastructure gap, and upholding First Nations rights and respecting First Nations jurisdiction. Canada must mobilize the resources needed to protect our people and our rights. This is an opportunity to mobilize the strength of First Nations leadership in building resiliency in the face of a changing climate. First Nations are foundational partners in Canada." – Cindy Woodhouse Nepinak, National Chief, Assembly of First Nations

Recommendations

The Advocate and the AFN jointly recommend:

1. Prioritize climate action by incorporating climate risk modelling in planning and strengthening the climate resilience of housing for First Nations that includes respecting, promoting, and safeguarding First Nations knowledge systems, rights, and self-determination.
2. Work in full partnership with First Nations to identify the priorities, objectives, and resources needed to respond to climate emergencies impacting First Nations Lands, Waters, and Air.
3. Establish an integrated national tripartite emergency management governance authority that sets out clear roles and accountability across all federal and provincial government departments and First Nations governments. This includes improving data sharing between all governments and ensuring First Nations access to data.
4. Work in full partnership with First Nations to establish a National First Nations-led Fire Safety and Stewardship Institution that supports the development, implementation, and monitoring of emergency management and prevention strategies, action plans, and risk assessments.
5. Strengthen and invest in First Nations‑led emergency management at the community, regional and national level by enhancing First Nations' financial, technical, and human capacity to conduct community-based climate-related assessments and monitoring. This includes addressing data availability, operations capacity, local fire services, and youth training pathways in emergency management and fire stewardship.
6. Work in full partnership with First Nations to develop and implement a First Nations Climate Emergency Housing Strategy that addresses evacuation lodging, urban reception, rapid return‑home funding, and climate‑resilient reconstruction and includes standards for host communities that meet the needs of First Nations evacuees.
7. Establish a national Indigenous‑led human rights monitoring framework for climate displacement and housing, with public reporting and clear accountability mechanisms.
8. Compensate First Nations with new or additional lands for any lands that First Nations have lost or may lose in the future due to climate change.
9. Invest maximum resources to prioritize First Nations communities at risk of catastrophic loss and close the $349.2 billion First Nations infrastructure gap through sustained investments in housing, water, emergency services, including $30.0 billion for climate adaptation, as guided by AFN's Closing the Infrastructure Gap by 2030 Report.
10. Work with First Nations to support the development of a First Nations Insurance Captive to address the systemic inequities in insurance coverage for First Nations infrastructure and housing, provide a tool to support the maintenance of on reserve capital assets and strengthen governance.

Quick facts

• The 2025 wildfire season marked a watershed moment in Canada's relationship with climate change, emergency management, and the human right to adequate housing for First Nations. One hundred and thirty‑four First Nations were directly affected by wildfire events, at least 88 communities were evacuated, and more than 40,000 First Nations citizens were displaced from their homes and homelands. These evacuations, often lasting weeks or months, exposed deep structural vulnerabilities in housing, infrastructure, emergency governance, and insurance systems.
• National data shows that First Nations people living on reserve face a fire‑related death rate more than ten times higher than that of non‑Indigenous people in Canada. Indigenous victims are, on average, two decades younger at the time of death, and a majority lived in dwellings reported as needing major repairs. Fire incidents in Indigenous communities are more likely to involve non‑functioning smoke alarms, hazardous heating equipment, and delayed emergency response.

Related links

• Maintaining the right to housing in a changing climate: Wildfire displacement, fire mortality, and emergency management in First Nations communities 
• See also the Senate of Canada's recently released report that contains complementary findings and recommendations: Canada on fire: The catastrophic and escalating effects of wildfires on landscapes, lives and communities demand urgent action

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SOURCE Office of the Federal Housing Advocate

Media contacts: Office of the Federal Housing Advocate, 613-943-9118, [email protected]; Assembly of First Nations, Cherish Francis, Press Secretary, Office of the National Chief, [phone] (mobile), [email protected]