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Agence France-Presse

As Canada hurtles towards its worst wildfire season in history, a conspiracy theory has taken off online claiming environmentalists intentionally set some of the blazes.
“I bet a good portion of the wildfires raging across the country were started by green terrorists who want to give their climate change campaign a little boost,” Maxime Bernier, a former foreign minister-turned fringe party leader, said in a June 5 tweet.
So far in 2023, Canada has seen larger wildfires than any previous year at this point in the season, with more than three million hectares burned. Tens of thousands of people have evacuated as a result.
On TikTok, a video already viewed almost 20,000 times, claims the fires in Nova Scotia were set “on purpose to push a climate change agenda”.

I bet a good portion of the wildfires raging across the country were started by green terrorists who want to give their climate change campaign a little boost.
The far left are experts at inventing and creating crises that they can then exploit. https://t.co/XSP4rAhjS9
— Maxime Bernier (@MaximeBernier) June 5, 2023

One article speculates that since 90 per cent of Alberta’s fires could be “human-caused”, there is a possibility that “ecoterrorists” may be behind them.
As wildfires spread in Quebec, some questioned how all the blazes could have started on the same day. One Facebook video with more than one million views blames “a terrorist attack” for the flames.
But Karine Pelletier from the province’s Forest Fire Protection Agency said the causes are still under investigation.
“There are a lot which are caused by humans, but these are almost always accidents,” she said, noting that recent lightning strikes were to blame for many of Quebec’s wildfires.
Alberta Wildfire said that unless lightning is involved, a blaze is classified as human-caused. This does not exclusively mean arson.
Health alarm as Canada wildfires blanket US East Coast in smoke
“It could be related to general causes, including agriculture, forest industry, powerlines, or oil and gas industry, railroad or residential wildfires,” said spokeswoman Melissa Story.
Nova Scotia officials have also said they are still investigating the origins of the province’s fires, which are presumed to be human-caused.
“Human-caused fires can be accidental, intentional or undetermined,” said Heather Fairbairn, a spokeswoman for the Office of the Fire Marshal of Nova Scotia. “Certainly, we are seeing the impacts of climate change which can increase fire risks.”

Conspiracy theorists have repeatedly tried to pin devastating wildfire seasons on politically motivated arsonists.
During Australia’s Black Summer of 2020, social media users misleadingly cited arson statistics from a prior year to blame unconnected crimes for the season’s bushfires.
In California in 2021, arsonists were behind several wildfires – but there is no evidence they were pushing a climate change agenda, as some people claimed online.
Wildfires sparked ‘Great Dying’ of 250 million years ago, Chinese study confirms
Chris Russill, a professor at Carleton University studying climate change communication, said the ecoterrorist theory may have once had some basis in truth, but “then that gets exaggerated in its importance or significance”.
Such is the case in Canada, where some social media users are citing genuine reports of suspicious fires to spin conspiracy theories about unrelated events and locations.
On top of purported vigilantism, some falsely theorise that the Canadian government is starting wildfires, either to advance its climate change policies or to force citizens into cities where it will be easier to impose “climate lockdowns”.

Russill tied those fears to Canada’s signing of the 2015 Paris Climate Agreement, which raised alarm about the impending climate crisis.
As the Liberal government implemented stricter climate caps and taxes over the past decade, Russill said people in Canada’s natural resource industries have grown defensive.
“This grievance isn’t actually always about a global fear of shadowy UN elites or eco-vigilantes, even though that’s how this gets taken up and incubated in this sort of narrative,” he said. “It’s expressing the fact that the relationship to the federal government and the provinces has become more insistent and more forceful.”
Social media posts insist “arson not climate change” is responsible for the wildfires, but Natural Resources Canada told reporters June 5 that this fire season was exacerbated by hot, dry and windy conditions.
“Climate change is increasing the frequency and intensity of wildland fires and creating longer fire seasons,” said Mike Norton, director general of the Canadian Forestry Centre.


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Canada

Canada wildfires spark ‘ecoterrorist’ conspiracy theory

A firefighter in Sturgeon Lake Cree Nation, Alberta, Canada. Photo: Alberta Wildfire via EPA-EFE 

Smoke billowing from fires in the Canadian provinces of Quebec and Ontario. Photo: Nasa Earth Observatory via AFP

An aerial view of wildfires in Canada’s Quebec province. Photo: Kevin Burton via AFP

Health alarm as Canada’s ‘worst wildfire season’ blankets US East Coast in smoke

An aerial view shows New York City in a haze-filled sky from the Empire State Building observatory. Photo: AP

The Statue of Liberty, covered in a haze-filled sky. Photo: AP

Smoke sweeping into New York and Pennsylvania. Photo: Nasa Earth Observatory

A passenger on a ferry in New York wears an air filtration mask. Photo: Bloomberg

Wildfires sparked ‘the Great Dying’ on Earth 250 million years ago, Chinese study confirms

There is growing evidence to suggest that catastrophic global warming and aridity caused by volcanic activities were major driving factors in the end of the Permian period. Photo: Shutterstock

The late Permian period (around 251.9 million years ago) had tropical rainforests, but they were not to last. Image: The Chinese Academy of Sciences

The End-Permian extinction event (EPME) period saw volcanic emissions and wildfires leading to global warming that led to more intense wildfires, creating a vicious circle. Image: the Chinese Academy of Sciences

This led to the barren landscape and low vegitation of the Early Triassic era. Image: the Chinese Academy of Sciences

Canada’s province of Alberta faces more wildfires amid hot, dry weather

The Bald Mountain Wildfire burns in the Grande Prairie Forest Area in Alberta, Canada on Friday,. Photo: Government of Alberta Fire Service / Canadian Press via AP

Burned land is seen following fires in Shining Bank, Alberta, Canada on Thursday. Photo: AFP

A train stops by a burnt area in Yellowhead County, Alberta, Canada on Tuesday. Photo: AFP

Thousands flee as wildfire rages in California amid heatwave

A wildfire burns near the town of Gazelle, California, on September 2. Photo: Reuters

Firefighters battle flames at a home near Weed, California, on September 2. Photo: The Sacramento Bee/TNS

A firefighting helicopter flies over the Klamath National Forest near Yreka, California. Photo: AFP

News

World

United States & Canada

Theories spread online claiming some of Canada’s wildfires were deliberately started
Some theorise Canada government involvement, others suggest ‘ecoterrorist’ activity


As Canada hurtles towards its worst wildfire season in history, a conspiracy theory has taken off online claiming environmentalists intentionally set some of the blazes.


Canada wildfires spark ‘ecoterrorist’ conspiracy theory

Theories spread online claiming some of Canada’s wildfires were deliberately started Some theorise Canada government involvement, others suggest ‘ecoterrorist’ activity

Theories spread online claiming some of Canada’s wildfires were deliberately started

Some theorise Canada government involvement, others suggest ‘ecoterrorist’ activity