As wildfires continue to impact the Okanagan and other parts of the Southern Interior, the Canadian Armed Forces are on their way.
In a Tweet posted Sunday, Prime Minister Justin Trudeau announced the federal government has approved B.C.'s request for federal assistance.
“We're deploying Canadian Forces assets and providing resources to help with evacuations, staging, and other logistical tasks,” he said. “We’ll continue to be here with whatever support is needed.”
It's not clear where exactly in B.C. the military will be deployed to.
During a press conference Sunday morning, Tom Wilson with the Central Okanagan Emergency Operations Centre said he had not heard anything at that time about the military coming to the Central Okanagan, but noted “it could be in the works.”
Emergency Preparedness minister Harjit Sajjan told Castanet Saturday that the federal government was working with the province to bring even more resources to the area.
In a brief statement following his wildfire briefing Sunday afternoon, Trudeau called the fires an “extraordinarily serious situation,” and highlighted how Canadians have been stepping up to help those who need it most.
Trudeau's newly shuffled Cabinet is holding a three-day Cabinet retreat in Charlottetown this coming week, but Trudeau said Sajjan won't be attending in person. Instead, he'll be staying in B.C. to help coordinate the federal response to the wildfires in B.C. and the Northwest Territories.
Update: We’ve received and approved British Columbia’s request for federal assistance. We’re deploying @CanadianForces assets and providing resources to help with evacuations, staging, and other logistical tasks. We’ll continue to be here with whatever support is needed.
— Justin Trudeau (@JustinTrudeau) August 20, 2023
