Fighting and Managing Wildfires in a Changing Climate Program: Training fund

About the fund

Budget 2022 provides $28 million over five years starting 2022-23 to train 1,000 new community-based firefighters, to reduce the risk from wildfire and support community-based capacity.

NRCan has launched a 2-year pilot phase, starting in 2022-23, to inform the design of the launch of the program.

This pilot initiative provides funding to a some Indigenous organizations and communities and supports the implementation of wildfire training projects to:

• increase firefighting capacity
• build community capacity to mitigate, prepare, and respond to wildfires in remote and Indigenous communities experiencing more frequent and more extreme wildfires

Building on lessons learned from the pilot phase, the program will fully launch with a call for applications for projects to begin in FY 2024-25.

Eligibility

Recipients and cost sharing

Eligible expenditures

Funds may be used for expenses related to the attainment of the program’s objective and necessary for the implementation and conduct of approved projects which include:

• Salaries, benefits and stipends
• Professional, and contracting services including printing and translation services
• Training, including facility rental, and costs to develop training
• Materials, and equipment for managing wildfire risk (communications equipment, personal protective equipment, and other non-capital equipment)
• Informatics and information technology and systems, including software and hardware
• Honoraria for Elders and Indigenous ceremonial costs
• GST, PST or HST, net of any tax rebate to which the Recipient is entitled.

Ineligible expenditures

• Capital costs for the construction of buildings or the purchase of land or buildings are not eligible. 

Assessment – merit criteria

Requests for funding will be evaluated on the following basis:

• How well the project aligns with the program objectives.
• The ability and capacity of the recipient to deliver and manage the project based on the proposed project.
• Achievable timelines and milestones.
• Have results that can be disseminated in order to support further development and implementation of emergency management strategies when applicable.
• Where applicable, the leveraging of funding and/or in-kind contributions from other public and private sources meets project requirements.
• Budget with reasonable cost estimates to achieve project objectives and deliverables.
• Where applicable, preference may be given to projects that contribute to advancing diversity and inclusion of underrepresented groups (e.g., women, racialized, Indigenous, etc.)

Contact us

If you have any other questions or comments, email cfswildfire-scffeuxforet@nrcan-rncan.gc.ca.

Related links

• Fighting and Managing Wildfires in a Changing Climate Program: Equipment fund