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The Mitigating Wildfire Initiative is building a fire-adapted future by turning dialogue into action, and collaboration into prevention.

Photo provided by Aaron Hemens (Globe and Mail)

Catastrophic wildfire is reshaping Canada: from health and housing to biodiversity, climate, and the economy. Yet while billions are spent fighting fires, only a fraction goes toward preventing them. 

What if we chose a different path?

  • What if prevention was something we built together, year-round, and systems made the right actions easier?

  • What if long-term resilience received the same commitment as emergency response?

  • What if people, communities, and ecosystems could thrive in a future where we live with fire, not only fight it?

The Mitigating Wildfire Initiative (MWI) at Simon Fraser University exists to make that future real.

We bridge policy, culture, and practice so prevention becomes visible, fundable, and actionable. As a trusted convenor, we create the relationships and structures that enable joint action on prevention. We build spaces for learning and shared problem-solving, helping partners test ideas and co-create solutions that reduce risk before catastrophic fires begin. Grounded in the understanding that fire is natural and necessary, we help de-risk collaboration, amplify proven solutions, and strengthen the foundations of prevention.

Our Goal

A Canada that learns from fire, not burns from it: resilient, connected, and fire-adapted. 

Our Mission

To prevent catastrophic wildfire by transforming how Canada works with fire—and with each other.

Our Principles

  • Wildfire is a Climate Issue

  • Fire Belongs

  • From Reaction to Resilience

  • Prevention First

  • Indigenous Fire Stewardship is Critical

  • Communities Drive Resilience

First and third photos below provided by Aaron Hemens (Globe and Mail)

  • “Wildfires and climate change will force humans to adapt, but opportunities to shape our future are abundant now.  Relationships and dialogue are the only tools that have proven to be effective over tens of thousands of years.  Strategies and solutions will come from humans, not hardware.

    The Mitigating Wildfire Initiative at SFU is playing a valuable role in facilitating collaboration and change, with influence well beyond British Columbia.”

    Trevor Howard
    President
    International Association of Wildland Fire

  • “The Mitigating Wildfire Initiative (MWI) at SFU’s Wosk Centre for Dialogue is changing the culture of wildfire solutions in British Columbia and Canada. As engagers, connectors, and innovators, they foster dialogue on the most challenging wildfire-related questions, bringing together often disconnected levels of government, communities, and sectors to find synergies and common ground. Guided by principles of respect and reciprocity, the MWI are strengthening relationships and co-developing solutions to today’s wildfire issues. The WRCC looks to the MWI as leaders and key collaborators advancing  wildfire resilience in Canada.”

    Dr. Kelsey Copes-Gerbitz & Garnet Mierau
    Wildfire Resilience Consortium of Canada

  • “The Mitigating Wildfire Initiative in SFU’s Centre for Dialogue provides crucial opportunities for diverse voices to delve into the complex causes and consequences of wildfire. Open and respectful conversations are the cornerstone of collaborative, all-of-society strategies that will enable us to successfully coexist with wildfire in a warming world.”

    Dr. Lori Daniels
    Koerner Chair in Wildfire Coexistence
    Forestry, UBC Vancouver