Fueled by a historic fire season in CanadaA conspiracy theory is gaining momentum online alleging that environmentalists intentionally ignited the flames.
The same story on the social network TikTok, where a video viewed almost 20,000 times claims that the fires in Nova Scotia, in eastern Canada, were started “voluntarily to promote a program to fight climate change.”
baseless theories
An online article even claims that 90% of the flames in the west of the country, ravaged by fires since early May, are “of human origin” and ignited by “eco-terrorists”.
In Quebec, some are wondering how all the fires could have broken out at once, suggesting in a video viewed hundreds of thousands of times on Facebook that a “terrorist attack” was at the source.
But there is no evidence to support these theories.
HE Canada It is currently experiencing the biggest fires in its history at this point in the season, with more than three million hectares burned and tens of thousands of people evacuated.
“Many are of human origin, but they are almost always accidents,” explains Karine Pelletier, from the Quebec Society for the Protection of Forests against Fires (Sopfeu), and points out that recent lightning strikes are at the origin of many fires in the French-speaking province. but that the origin of the others remains to be determined.
For its part, the agency in charge of fires in Alberta points out that a fire is always considered to be of human origin unless it is a lightning strike. But that doesn’t necessarily mean it was arson, notes Melissa Story, a spokeswoman for Alberta Wildfire.
“Fires caused by man can be accidental, intentional or undetermined,” says Heather Fairbairn, of the Nova Scotia agency, where the cause of the fires remains to be clarified.
But “the truth is that we are seeing the effects of climate change, which increase the risk of fires,” he stresses.
This is not the first time that conspiracy theorists have relied on devastating fire seasons to make these accusations.
During Australia’s “black summer” of 2020, internet users mistakenly relied on arson statistics from the previous year to justify bushfires.
The following year, in California, arsonists were indeed at the origin of several forest fires, but nothing could prove that they defended the climate cause, as some Internet users claim.
For Chris Russell of Carleton University, the ecoterrorism theory was inspired by factual elements, but “its importance or significance was then exaggerated.”
This is the case in Canadawhere internet users rely on official reports of suspicious fires to support their theories about unrelated events and locations.
Furthermore, some argue that the Canadian government would intentionally set wildfires to further its climate policies or force citizens to flee to cities where it would be easier to impose “climate lockdowns.”
With the Paris climate agreement and the Justin Trudeau government’s climate policy (emissions cap, carbon tax, etc.), supporters of fossil fuels, a major industry in the country, are on the defensive.
“This argument is not always linked to a general fear of dark UN elites or environmental vigilantes,” he tempers. “Instead, it emphasizes relations with the federal government and the provinces that would have become more pressing and stronger,” pushing more and more people towards conspiracy theories.
Source: BFM TV
