Explainer

What you need to know about wildfire smoke

From northern Ontario to major cities hundreds of kilometres away, wildfire smoke is increasingly becoming a major contributor to air pollution

By Fatima Syed and Shannon Waters

July 16, 2026 5 min. read

Wildfires in Canada

More coverage

What causes wildfires? Lightning, people, climate change … and obsessively putting them out

By

Drew Anderson
A wildfire in southern Ontario burns differently. Here’s why

By

Rebecca Gao
When a wildfire came to my remote B.C. community, residents headed to the frontlines

By

Louis Bockner
Drought is a big problem in Canada — and it’s getting worse

By

Steph Kwetásel’wet Wood
Counting up receipts: one of Canada’s worst wildfire seasons cost at least $500M

By

Julia-Simone Rutgers

Photo: Jesse Winter / The Narwhal

A woman holds her newborn child against her chest, with a smoky sky behind her.

First Person

Shrouded in wildfire smoke, my first summer as a mother is not what I imagined

By Amara Possian

July 16, 2026 5 min. read

I want to show my baby the beauty of this burning world and everything there...

Smoke-filled skies as the sun rises over trees and apartment buildings

Newsletter

Between coughing fits in Ontario

By Fatima Syed

July 17, 2026

The air quality in Toronto this week was, at times, worse than anywhere else on...

A pod of southern resident killer whales swim in front of Deltaport, their heads and fins peaking above the surface and just a glimpse of their iconic white painted eyes. Cranes and containers are visible in the distance

News

‘Industrial sacrifice zone’: the plan to bring oil supertankers to the mouth of the Fraser River

By Shannon Waters and Isabelle Groc

July 16, 2026 7 min. read

As governments look to expand Roberts Bank, scientists warn one of Canada's most important ecosystems...

Photographed from above, a Columbia spotted frog crouches on the edge of a white bucket. is pictured, with leaves on the ground, and leaving a bucket.

Analysis

Five million frogs have been relocated for industry in B.C. No one knows how many survived

By Santana Dreaver

July 15, 2026 6 min. read

Translocation mitigation has been standard in the province since 2010. Sixteen years later, researchers aren’t...

Baffinland Mary River Mine Milne Inlet Nunavut

News

Nunavut hunters seek consultation, full review of Baffinland’s proposed Steensby expansion

By Meral Jamal

July 14, 2026 13 min. read

Hunters and trappers organizations say the expansion will be detrimental for narwhals in Foxe Basin

A man stands with one hand in his pocket on a dirt road that extends behind him through a green rural field.

On the ground

Manitoba has big dreams for wind farms. Not every small town wants to host one

By Julia-Simone Rutgers

July 13, 2026 16 min. read

Imagine an emissions-free, Indigenous-owned energy project — with turbines twice as tall as anything else...

Prime Minister Mark Carney speaks into a microphone at a lectern while B.C. Premier David Eby looks on.

Interview

Pipeline-a-palooza: unpacking the week in Canadian energy politics

By Emma Gilchrist

July 9, 2026 8 min. read

If pipelines really are Canada’s economic saviour, why are taxpayers footing the bill for them?

A Cooper's hawk flies through the air with a chipmunk clutched in its talons.

Photo Essay

On the hunt: the ferocity and precision of Cooper’s hawks

By Paul Gains

July 10, 2026 6 min. read

A pair of Cooper’s hawks made their home in one photographer’s backyard. Over the last...

Danielle Smith and Doug Ford smile in front of a map displaying a proposed pipeline route from Alberta to Ontario

Newsletter

Pipelines, pipelines, pipelines!

By Emma Gilchrist

July 10, 2026

Unpacking a big week in pipeline politics, keeping watch on environmental moves in Ontario and...

Watch

@thenarwhalca

From $25 an hour to $4,995: salaries on either side of the climate crisis

Ontario is returning to the office. What does that mean for traffic and emissions?

Shorts

The $24 billion health care cost of Canada’s wildfires

Living with wildfire: a new normal for many B.C. communities

B.C. banned all exotic cats as pets. Where will they go?

Sexy tick checks, a push for gold near Tofino, and more: June in review

Would you swim at a beach if authorities didn’t test the water quality?

Guilbeault on Carney’s climate plan: ‘He thinks that the markets are going to do it’

Inside the push to mine gold near Tofino, B.C.

DRIPA, Indigenous Guardians, the second-sunniest province and more: May in review

A bee is photographed against a coloured backdrop.

Nature’s hardest working insects – bees – are under threat

A malfunctioning LNG terminal, orphan wells, Who Pays? and more: April in review

Fire for good: First Nations are bringing back cultural burns

Floods, renewables, endangered species and more: March in review

Ontario’s FOI plans threaten your right to know

Drew Anderson explains how AI Data Centres are building built by developers in Alberta thanks to a big push in funding.

Alberta’s $100-billion AI dreams

What do fluctuating oil prices mean for Canada?

AI, the Ring of Fire and more: February in review

LNG Canada burned 1.7 million cubic metres of gas on a single day in September

An update on The Narwhal’s court case against the RCMP

Why Ontario is dealing with more traffic — and emissions

Carol Linnitt is the co-founder of The Narwhal. The Narwhal is suing the RCMP.

We’re fighting for our right to report — and your right to know

B.C. is flooding, again. We explain

B.C. says 1950s-style clear-cut logging isn’t happening anymore. Is that true?

Animals are getting killed on Canada’s railways

Piping Plovers on Wasaga Beach, in Ontario

Endangered plovers love this Ontario beach. Is the feeling mutual?

Any Ontario minister could soon have the power to create law-free zones — and decide what gets built there

POV: a reporting trip to Heiltsuk territory

Pipeline opposition took centre stage at Neil Young’s Burnaby, B.C., concert

Organic is barely a starting line, chef Michael Smith says

Chef Michael Smith keeps coming back home to P.E.I.

Could refreezing the Arctic help save its melting ice?

A screenshot of a video call for a Moose Questionnaire with ShawtyAstrology.

How do you reach people who don’t believe in climate change?

A beaver lodge animation and illustration. One beaver is inside of the lodge.

Two families of beavers live in Stanley Park…

Michelle Cyca talked about Indigenous sovereignty

Some people say Indigenous Rights are “racist,” but that’s not true

A screenshot of a video call for a Moose Questionnaire, with ShawtyAstrology in the top half and Narwhal editor Denise Balkissoon below.

“Ducks are very cute,” ShawtyAstrology says

Video thumbnail featuring Patrick Johnson, a Guardian Watchman.

Canada’s conservation goals depend on this

What’s going on around Grand Forks, B.C.?

How do you undo over 100 years of pollution?

Why are we seeing wildfires already? What causes them?

Here’s how cities can prevent flooding

North of North’s Anna Lambe is open to people growing

Here’s how one Mohawk community is dealing with a hungry beetle

There’s nothing inherently “critical” about critical minerals

Marrying a polar bear seems totally reasonable

What is the carbon tax?

Watch our in-depth explainer for more on the carbon tax

Anna Lambe has been pretty far north

Six dead birds? In this economy?

View More Videos

We’re suing the RCMP to fight for press freedom

In November 2021, photojournalist Amber Bracken was arrested by the RCMP while on assignment for The Narwhal. So we launched a lawsuit to take a stand for press freedom. The trial recently concluded. Learn more.

An RCMP officer aims a rifle into a one-room wooden home on Wet’suwet’en territory where land defenders gathered in November 2021 in opposition to construction of the Coastal GasLink pipeline.

Alberta’s AI data centre dreams run into global shortage of gas turbines

By Drew Anderson

July 9, 2026

Explainer

Bill 5 is in, the climate plan is out: the environmental stakes of Doug Ford’s third term

By Rajpreet Sahota

July 8, 2026

In-Depth

Meet Gary, an exotic cat that B.C. just outlawed as a pet

By Michelle Cyca and Alana Paterson

Updated July 8, 2026

In-Depth

Canada relies on Black farm workers. So why are there so few Black farm owners?

By Jacqueline L. Scott

July 6, 2026

Newsletter

Are we ready for the next heat dome?

By Lindsay Sample

July 3, 2026

SOP-BC-IndigiNews-Osoyoos wildfire forest restoration-Aaron Hemens-01

In-Depth

Osoyoos Indian Band plans to restore wildfire-ravaged forests with native plant species

By Aaron Hemens (Local Journalism Initiative Reporter)

July 3, 2026

View More Stories

From $25 an hour to $4,995: salaries on either side of the climate crisis

Ontario is returning to the office. What does that mean for traffic and emissions?

Shorts

The $24 billion health care cost of Canada’s wildfires

Living with wildfire: a new normal for many B.C. communities

B.C. banned all exotic cats as pets. Where will they go?

Sexy tick checks, a push for gold near Tofino, and more: June in review

Would you swim at a beach if authorities didn’t test the water quality?

Guilbeault on Carney’s climate plan: ‘He thinks that the markets are going to do it’

Inside the push to mine gold near Tofino, B.C.

DRIPA, Indigenous Guardians, the second-sunniest province and more: May in review

Nature’s hardest working insects – bees – are under threat

A malfunctioning LNG terminal, orphan wells, Who Pays? and more: April in review

Fire for good: First Nations are bringing back cultural burns

Floods, renewables, endangered species and more: March in review

Ontario’s FOI plans threaten your right to know

Alberta’s $100-billion AI dreams

What do fluctuating oil prices mean for Canada?

AI, the Ring of Fire and more: February in review

LNG Canada burned 1.7 million cubic metres of gas on a single day in September

An update on The Narwhal’s court case against the RCMP

Why Ontario is dealing with more traffic — and emissions

We’re fighting for our right to report — and your right to know

B.C. is flooding, again. We explain

B.C. says 1950s-style clear-cut logging isn’t happening anymore. Is that true?

Animals are getting killed on Canada’s railways

Endangered plovers love this Ontario beach. Is the feeling mutual?

Any Ontario minister could soon have the power to create law-free zones — and decide what gets built there

POV: a reporting trip to Heiltsuk territory

Pipeline opposition took centre stage at Neil Young’s Burnaby, B.C., concert

Organic is barely a starting line, chef Michael Smith says

Chef Michael Smith keeps coming back home to P.E.I.

Could refreezing the Arctic help save its melting ice?

How do you reach people who don’t believe in climate change?

Two families of beavers live in Stanley Park…

Some people say Indigenous Rights are “racist,” but that’s not true

“Ducks are very cute,” ShawtyAstrology says

Canada’s conservation goals depend on this

What’s going on around Grand Forks, B.C.?

How do you undo over 100 years of pollution?

Why are we seeing wildfires already? What causes them?

Here’s how cities can prevent flooding

North of North’s Anna Lambe is open to people growing

Here’s how one Mohawk community is dealing with a hungry beetle

There’s nothing inherently “critical” about critical minerals

Marrying a polar bear seems totally reasonable

What is the carbon tax?

Watch our in-depth explainer for more on the carbon tax

Anna Lambe has been pretty far north

Six dead birds? In this economy?

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Recent Posts

Alberta’s AI data centre dreams run into global shortage of gas turbines

Bill 5 is in, the climate plan is out: the environmental stakes of Doug Ford’s third term

Meet Gary, an exotic cat that B.C. just outlawed as a pet