The governments of Canada and the United States have signed a Memorandum of Understanding (MoU) on firefighting support, the Minister of Natural Resources Jonathan Wilkinson said on Thursday
WASHINGTON (Pakistan Point News / Sputnik - 23rd June, 2023) The governments of Canada and the United States have signed a Memorandum of Understanding (MoU) on firefighting support, the Minister of Natural Resources Jonathan Wilkinson said on Thursday.
"Certainly, for decades Canada and the United States have both received and deployed firefighting support to one another most years. International reciprocity means mutual help in case of need. That is why I'm certainly pleased to have met with Ambassador Cohen (David) this morning to sign a Memorandum of Understanding between Canada and the United States," Wilkinson said during a joint press conference from Parliament Hill with Minister of Emergency Preparedness Bill Blair and US Ambassador to Ottawa David Cohen.
The minister noted that Canada and the US are allies, partners, and neighbors and as such they help and support each other when the need presents itself.
The newly signed MoU will ensure smoother cross-border support and will also pave the way to modernizing several existing agreements, making mutual assistance more efficient by enhancing both countries' abilities to fight wildfires, establishing new procedures for resource exchange, and encouraging cooperation.
Wilkinson said that prior to the agreement, the sharing of firefighting resources was mainly spontaneous, relying on a set of arrangements focusing on fire suppression, further adding that the MoU would allow for heightened coordination with the US, provinces, and territories to work in preventing, monitoring, and risk-mitigating wildfires.
The US has deployed 1500 firefighters to Canada in support of ongoing wildfire suppression efforts.
