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Prime minister visits first responders in Halifax suburb following wildfires

Jun 19, 2023, Hammonds Plains, N.S. – Prime Minister Justin Trudeau visited the suburbs of Halifax today, meeting with firefighters and other first responders involved in the recent battle against a devastating wildfire.

He thanked them for their work in fighting the wildfire that broke out on May 28, destroying 150 homes and forcing more than 16,000 people to evacuate the area.

Flanked by Public Safety Minister Bill Blair, the prime minister arrived at a fire station in Hammond Plains, just a few hundred metres from where wildfires burned weeks ago.

A “Nova Scotia Strong” flag waved on the roadside.

Trudeau met with dozens of volunteer and full-time firefighters, as well as the fire department’s management and union representation, posing for photos.

He then addressed the group, thanking them for stepping up for their community.

“I also thank you for all the things we don’t know about, the things you don’t tell your partners or families about,” Trudeau added. “I know you are all going into very scary situations regularly, and Canadians rely on you so deeply for everything you do.”

At a first responder appreciation event at St. Margaret’s Centre, Trudeau again thanked firefighters, along with Halifax Regional Municipality officials and members of the Nova Scotia Department of Natural Resources and Renewables.

“Everyone pulling together is really what we see, right across the country, in times of crisis,” he said. “But you’ve all chosen careers in which you’ve been stepping up more significantly.”

He noted it’s been “a tough few years,” with more frequent extreme weather events due to climate change, the COVID-19 pandemic and “incidents of violence or loss,” an apparent reference to the 2020 Nova Scotia mass shooting.

“You’ve always been there to step up in so many different ways, and you do it day in and day out,” he said.

-This story was produced with the financial assistance of the Meta and Canadian Press News Fellowship