The Saskatchewan government says a delayed third-party review of last year’s wildfire response was pushed back to allow for more consultation and document analysis, but the NDP says the wait is leaving northern residents without answers as another fire season approaches.
The dispute centres on an MNP review commissioned by the Saskatchewan Public Safety Agency into the province’s 2025 wildfire response. In a statement Friday, the government said the wildfire season Saskatchewan experienced in 2025 was unprecedented because of its intensity, geographic spread, and duration.
According to the government, the review timeline was first extended to March 31, 2026, after communities and individuals asked to take part through February. The province said the report was then pushed to late spring to give MNP more time to review thousands of SPSA documents and hundreds of interviews.
The government said the delay has not stopped the agency from making changes during the off-season. It said SPSA has completed internal reviews, made improvements to evacuation policies and procedures, increased planning with First Nations, and continued working with Denare Beach residents through the Recovery Task Team program.
But Jordan McPhail, the NDP’s Shadow Minister for Northern Affairs and Forestry, said people in northern Saskatchewan have been waiting too long for accountability after last year’s fires and evacuations.
“I think the main concern that I have is the same concern that most people in Saskatchewan have, and that’s that they want to know that this government has learned from previous mistakes,” McPhail said in an interview with the Daily Herald.
McPhail said the delay matters because wildfire planning should already have been well underway by now.
“These plans should have been starting to be actioned (in) December (or) January of this year,” he said.
McPhail said residents in the North are still dealing with the consequences of last year’s wildfire season, which forced thousands from their homes and triggered widespread concerns about evacuation support and emergency resources.
McPhail also said the Opposition continues to hear that some people displaced by the fires are still living in temporary accommodations, including hotels in places such as Creighton and Saskatoon.
He argued the province’s most urgent task now is making sure SPSA is fully equipped before conditions worsen.
“The single most urgent action again, will be to ensure that the SPSA is properly resourced,” McPhail said, adding that the agency needs trained staff, equipment, aircraft, and a coordinated operations plan that includes northern and Indigenous leadership.
He also said evacuees need more certainty if communities are forced out again this year.
“They can’t be left to their own devices again,” McPhail said.
The NDP has also tied the issue to its proposed Wildfire Strategy Act, which it says would give northern leaders and frontline fire experience a stronger voice in planning and response.
For now, the province says the extra time will result in a better final report. The Opposition says people in the North are still waiting to see whether those assurances will translate into action before smoke returns to the province’s forest.
arjun.pillai@paherald.sk.ca
