Manitoba wildfire review consisted of ‘meeting notes and verbal discussion’ but no written reports: documents

After one of the worst wildfire seasons in Manitoba, CBC News has learned internal wildfire response assessments conducted by the province after the NDP government cancelled an “urgent” external review in 2023 consisted of verbal reports with no written recommendations about ways to improve.

Manitoba’s wildfire service also experienced staffing shortages that made it difficult to perform a more detailed internal review, the deputy minister in charge of the service said in documents obtained through freedom of information requests.

In June, CBC News reported the NDP government declined in 2023 to follow through on urgent plans outlined in provincial documents to conduct an external review of wildfire preparedness that would have examined how staff made decisions and whether they had the right information and training.

The NDP government cancelled this external review in November 2023, weeks after the party took the province's leadership from the Progressive Conservatives.

Faced with questions in June about why the external review was cancelled, Manitoba’s natural resources minister and the public servant in charge of the wildfire service defended the decision.

Natural Resources Minister Ian Bushie said Manitoba’s wildfire service had a “strong internal capacity” to conduct an internal review, while Kristin Hayward, the assistant deputy minister responsible for the service, said her staff was “really well-positioned to be able to do an assessment and implement any recommendations.”

In documents obtained through freedom of information requests, Hayward told provincial officials via email this June these internal assessments did not result in any written reports.

Hayward said they typically pick two to three fires to review to help "inform future planning" and review operating procedures.

“Due to some limitations in staff capacity we have not been producing formal written reports that detail the outcome of these reviews,” she wrote to senior staff on June 18, after CBC News first inquired as to why the province did not proceed with an external review.

“They are more like meeting notes and verbal discussion,” Hayward said in her email.

A freedom-of-information request filed by CBC News did not yield any records related to the wildfire service conducting an internal assessment or case studies. 

The response to the information request, sent in September 2025, noted the term “internal assessment” was not used for any “specific assessment that was done or created” but instead was language used to describe “ongoing culture and continuous improvement done by the division.”

In an interview, Hayward said the meetings and discussions that were held as part of their internal review allowed wildfire staff to adapt quickly to new policies. 

Hayward declined to state whether any recommendations were made as a result of the reviews, noting “not all of that needs to be documented.”