Our Forests 2026

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Our Forests Protecting Canada's Forests for Future Generations Canada's forests sustain our environment, economy and communities. The Honourable Julie Dabrusin, Minister of the Environment, Climate Change and Nature, shares her vision for protecting this vital natural resource.

Canada’s strength has always been rooted in our connection to nature. From coast to coast to coast, nature is not just part of our landscape, partleading of who we arefirms as Canadians.

One ofit’s Canada’s engineering is advancing an approach to infrastructure that’s grounded in asset durability, data-driven decisions, and long-term value.

Canada must act with urgency, unity, and determination. We are positioning climate action and economic growth as inseparable, aiming to build a stronger, more sustainable, and more competitive Canada for decades to come.

From Response to Resilience, Preparing for Wildfire Risk Minister of Emergency Management and Community Resilience Eleanor Olszewski shares how Canada is investing in prevention, planning, and resilience.

What are your priorities for wildfire preparedness and resilience over the next few years?

My priority is to continue moving Canada from a reactive approach to one focused on resilience. As wildfires are more frequent and severe, we need to help communities understand and reduce those risks before disasters strike.

That means investing in prevention and mitigation. Across the country, we are supporting wildfire risk reduction, FireSmart initiatives, fuel management, better planning, and stronger local emergency preparedness. Ultimately, success will be measured by how resilient our communities become.

What message would you like to share with Canadians as we head into this year's wildfire season?

My message to Canadians is simple: be prepared, know your risks, and look out for one another. As we face the 2026 wildfire season, many Canadians are understandably watching conditions closely. I understand those concerns. As an Albertan and Minister responsible for Jasper recovery, I have seen the impact wildfires can have on families and communities.

I encourage Canadians to stay informed by visiting GetPrepared.ca, understand the risks in their area, make an emergency plan, prepare an emergency kit, and always follow the guidance of local authorities.

My message to Canadians is simple: be prepared, know your risks, and look out for one another.

Read the entire interview online at innovatingcanada.ca.

Publisher: Malcolm Sharples Business Development Manager: Luca Bidini Country Manager: Samantha Taylor Content & Client Success Manager: Nicole Kansakar Creative Director: Kylie Armishaw All images are from Getty Images unless otherwise credited. This section was created by Mediaplanet and did not involve The National Post or its editorial departments. Send all inquiries to ca.editorial@mediaplanet.com.

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The Best Thing for Your Health Is Free and Just Outside

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Since 2020, more than 20,000 providers have written over two million prescriptions for time in nature through PaRx, a BC Parks Foundation program.

esearch has consistently shown that spending time in nature has a tangible impact on both our physical and mental health. Best of all, nature is all around us in Canada, even in big cities. Its accessibility makes time outdoors a free and equitable way we can all improve our overall health and wellness.

At the same time, our health care system is increasingly recognizing the value of prevention in reducing the risk of chronic illness.

One of the simplest and most powerful things we can do for our health is to spend time in nature.

It goes beyond health, too. Across sectors, organizations are recognizing that access to nature supports multiple, overlapping priorities — including environmental stewardship, community well-being, and health equity.

This was the thinking behind PaRx (short for Park Prescriptions), Canada’s national nature prescription program. Launched in 2020 by BC Parks Foundation, the program enables health care providers to prescribe time in nature — because when the advice comes from a health care provider, patients are more likely to take it seriously.

Connecting people to nature Nature prescriptions are a simple but powerful way to connect people with nature. “We have long understood that time in nature can have immense benefits for our physical and mental health. When combined with nutritious foods, regular exercise and sleep, it creates a strong foundation for good health.

This is especially important for children and youth to build a strong foundation for their futures. In a time when we are all being pulled in so many directions, distracted by devices and demands, we can all benefit from regularly slowing down and spending time outdoors,” says CMA President, Dr. Bolu Ogunyemi. These findings underpin the concept of nature as a “fourth pillar of health,” alongside nutrition, exercise, and sleep.

Studies have also found that patients are significantly more likely to follow through when a physician provides a written prescription, compared to verbal advice. PaRx harnesses that effect by transforming a simple walk in the park into a formalized — and motivating — part of a care plan.

The many benefits of nature prescriptions Besides the personal health benefits, nature prescriptions can help reduce health care costs and support planetary health.

Programs like PaRx bridge two worlds that have operated in parallel: health care and environmental stewardship. Each prescription improves individual well-being while deepening awareness of the ecosystems that make that well-being possible.

We’ve seen health care, conservation, and now insurance align around the shared truth that spending time in nature is one of the most powerful and accessible tools for well-being.

Research shows that when people connect with nature for their own health, they’re more likely to take action to protect it. Every PaRx prescription becomes part of a feedback loop, healing people while inspiring stewards of the planet.

Further, by encouraging preventative care and healthier lifestyles, nature prescriptions can reduce demand on the health care system, lowering costs and easing pressure on an already strained system.

Bridging medicine, conservation, and policy In the five years since BC Parks Foundation launched PaRx, the program has evolved from a grassroots collaboration between physicians and park professionals into a movement that bridges medicine, conservation, and policy. Today, more than 20,000 health care providers have registered as prescribers, collectively issuing an estimated two million prescriptions for time in nature.

Support from partners such as Manulife — the first life and health insurer in the world to support a national nature prescription program — reflects the growing momentum behind nature prescriptions. Operating throughout Canada, PaRx is endorsed by the Canadian Medical Association and has partnered with Parks Canada, the Toronto Zoo, the Canadian Museum of Nature, and others to reduce barriers to accessing nature.

The World Health Organization has recognized the program for advancing planetary health. Jennie McCaffrey, Vice-President of Health and Education at BC Parks Foundation, believes this diversity of partnerships has been key to PaRx’s rapid growth and lasting impact.

“We’ve seen health care, conservation, and now insurance align around the shared truth that spending time in nature is one of the most powerful and accessible tools for well-being,” she says. “When organizations take that seriously, not as a tagline but as actual policy, it changes everything.”

Other countries have launched similar campaigns, yet no other country has built a nationally coordinated nature prescription program endorsed by more than 100 health care associations. Canada’s model shows what becomes possible when health care and environmental organizations move in tandem, and when the natural world is treated as a partner in wellness rather than a backdrop to it.

Written by Tania Amardeil

Visit parkprescriptions.ca to see how PaRx is connecting Canadians with nature, and to explore partnership opportunities.

This article was sponsored by BC Parks Foundation.

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Managing Canada’s Forests Is How We Protect Canada’s Forests Our forests are stronger when we support the communities, employees, and practices that help manage them responsibly.

C Written by

Derek Nighbor President & CEO, Forest Products Association of Canada & Canadian Wood Council

anadians care deeply about our forests. They’re part of who we are, giving us clean air, storing carbon, and providing places to work, live, gather, and enjoy.

While Canada’s forest industry is facing serious market and trade-related challenges, the forests themselves are also under real pressure. Wildfires are getting worse.

Drought, pests, disease, and changing weather are affecting forest health. Communities are facing greater risk. At the same time, Canada needs more homes, stronger supply chains, lower-emission materials, and good jobs in the regions that have long helped build this country.

These things are connected, and so are the solutions.

Forested communities are part of the solution Canada’s forest products sector is an economic anchor, rooted in hundreds of communities across the country. The forest industry is more than a mill — it supports contractors, truckers, rail and port workers, local businesses, municipal services, and families. When a mill is strong, the whole community feels it.

Our sector turns a renewable Canadian resource into products people use every day: lumber for homes, pulp and paper for hospitals and schools, packaging that moves goods, energy for heat and electricity, and innovative materials that can help Canada build cleaner, smarter, and faster. That’s why managing Canada’s forests is how we protect Canada’s forests.

The Forest Sector Action Plan is a welcome step. Through it, the federal government recognizes the pressures facing the sector and focuses on the right priorities beyond the urgent action needed on trade with the United States: competitive and predictable wood fibre supply, investment in modernization and innovation, stronger markets at home and abroad, and support for employees and communities.

It’s time to turn that plan into action that works on the ground. Sustainable forestry is not about choosing between the environment and the economy. It’s about keeping forests healthy, protecting communities, and investing in our future.

Building wildfire resilience before disaster strikes A big part of that work is wildfire resilience.

Fire suppression will always be needed when lives and homes are at risk, but Canada cannot suppress its way out of the wildfire challenge. We need to act before fires start.

That includes better planning around communities, improved forest access, and practical use of residual fibre that would

otherwise add to fire risk. When permitted to thin overgrowth and remove deadwood, foresters reduce the fuel loads that turn manageable blazes into uncontrollable infernos — protecting ecosystems, air quality, highways, and critical infrastructure.

Indigenous fire stewardship and landbased knowledge must have an important role in building more resilient forests and safer communit ies. These approaches are practical, place-based, and rooted in long-term care for the land.

Canada is better positioned when governments work together and with Indigenous partners, workers, communities, and industry toward shared goals.

Creating the conditions for investment

But we can control the controllable.

We can improve coordination between governments, provide clearer approval timelines, support prevention-focused wildfire work, and enable good projects to progress.

We can create better conditions for investment in mill modernization, bioenergy, mass timber, advanced biomaterials, and cleaner technologies.

And we can make sure Canadian wood is part of the solution as Canada builds more homes, schools, and community infrastructure.

Every cubic metre of Canadia n lumber used in dome st ic con st r uc t ion stores carbon while reinvesting in rural and regional economies.

Predictability matters.

No company or community can plan without confidence in the fibre supply, infrastructure, and policy. When those conditions are predictable, the sector can invest, innovate, and help deliver what Canadians want: healthier forests, safer communities, and stronger regional economies.

Canada’s forest products sector is an economic anchor, rooted in hundreds of communities across the country.

Forests can help heat and electrify Canada while also creating an opportunity to leverage the value of carbon through bioenergy for carbon capture and storage projects. Mills have a ready supply of forest biomass, creating value from a surplus of lower-grade wood. By working with the sector to create more mill-based energy generation and improving investment conditions for bioenergy and carbon capture and storage projects, the federal government can enable new revenue streams and strengthen the prospects of the forest industry and mill communities.

Some pressures facing our sector are outside Canada’s control — markets will shift, trade challenges will continue, and climate impacts will intensify.

Support the communities managing our forests responsibly at fpac.ca.

A practical path forward There’s no single fix for the challenges facing Canada’s forests. But there is a practical path forward: support sustainable forestry, strengthen wildfire resilience, encourage innovation, improve coordination, and recognize the forest industry as the economic anchor it is.

Protecting Canada’s forests is more than what we preserve — it’s what we do: managing forests carefully, investing with confidence, and supporting people.

This article was sponsored by Forest Products Association of Canada.