Rebuilding through the aftermath: from wildfire management governance gap to collaborative care across the Pacific

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About the project

In June 2021 and August 2023, two fatal wildfire events occurred. One fire left the community of Lytton, British Columbia, Canada, almost completely burned in 2021. Then, in 2023, a series of wildfires spread across the island of Maui, leaving thousands of structures destroyed. Disasters are matters of life and death. They present a pivotal moment to pause, reflect and recalibrate our understanding of societal values, what we hold dear and how we can care for one another. These events invite a radical awakening and a reimagining of what is possible, beyond the colonial, unsustainable status quo.

This research poses and addresses a guiding question: What might collaborative, caring governance look like with respect to wildfire management and emergency response? In response, we drew upon academic studies, media accounts and survivor testimonies in both Lytton, BC, and Lahaina, a community on the island of Maui. We explain how this is a pivotal moment to consider alternative futures and to critically reflect on collaborative governance in places across the Pacific Ocean and around the world.

Our findings reflect a mapping of key policy players, contested responsibilities and actors, as well as a review of official and local narratives about aftermath governance, drawing upon the voices of those with lived experience of climate disasters alongside formal policy documents and perspectives. This research demonstrates how storytelling is a powerful source of knowledge that should inform evidence-based policy analysis and decision-making about disaster events generally and those related to climate change in particular.

Key findings

Policy actor mapping

• Wildfires are often harbingers of what is to come, and they draw into sharp focus how communities, ecosystems and policy actors interact.
• A metaphor we use to shape our analysis is an octopus, or heʻe.
• Governing bodies in the aftermath of climate disaster function somewhat like an aquatic sea creature that morphs, hides, and then dramatically reveals itself.
• While Indigenous communities are increasingly engaged in response and recovery, formal power structures and funding remain concentrated within state, provincial and federal systems.
• Issues with effective governance after a disaster are intrinsically linked to colonialism.
• Aftermath governance also stretches across issues such as emergency management, public health, housing, food systems, transportation and the economy.
• Governance of this sector involves a range of institutions such as local governments, non-profit organizations, Indigenous communities and Nations, provincial and federal authorities; and in the United States context, state and county governments, community groups, Federal Emergency Management Agency (FEMA) and other federal agencies.

Community care is critical for rebuilding

• Turning toward community is central to rebuilding, and practices of collaborative care are central to cultivating meaningful connections and resilience. Our mapping of key policy players in Lytton noted several governance gaps, including lack of communication across jurisdictions, a sense of concealment or absence of governing bodies, and the need for more collaboration and Indigenous co-governance.
• Key policy players identified in Lahaina, like those in Lytton, reveal how community leaders and Kānaka ʻŌiwi organizations filled many gaps left by official response systems

Dominant media discourses

• Our review of media coverage noted the scale of destruction, systemic critique, the politics of recovery, governance concerns and justice-oriented narratives.
• In Lahaina, themes emerged regarding water access, overlapping jurisdictions, delays in service provision, confusion and mistrust.
• In Lytton, we also noted themes such as fragile response systems and structural challenges in wildfire governance.
• Both disasters reflected dynamics associated with disaster capitalism, as articulated in testimonies, media accounts and academic articles.

Centering alternative voices, lived experiences and storytelling

• Grounded narratives from the survivors of disaster events constitute evidence that must inform, improve and guide intersectional policy outcomes.
  • Examples include climate disaster survivor testimonies, media accounts and theatre productions, including Eyes of the Beast, a play featuring climate disaster survivor testimonials produced in partnership with the Climate Disaster Project and Neworld Theatre and staged in Victoria and Vancouver, BC, Canada, in 2024 and 2025
• Grounding lived experiences acknowledges the diversity of voices and perspectives in relation to disaster events, can improve and inform policy outcomes, and can enhance the implementation of applied intersectionality in practice.
• Legislative, policy and regulatory frameworks increasingly refer to intersectionality; see for example BC’s Emergency Management and Disaster Act (2023), which notes an imperative to attend to “intersectional disadvantage.”

Recovery approaches

• Land/ʻĀina is at the centre of community health and well-being.
• Holistic responses underscore how Indigenous-led recovery weaves together governance, spirituality and stewardship—dimensions often marginalized in formal emergency frameworks and that should be taken into consideration moving forward.
• Rebuilding to pre-occupation ecosystems can enhance well-being and self-determination.
• Collaborative care is critical for community rebuilding and for grounding governance from the bottom-up.

Policy implications

Collaborative care matters

• Centring collaborative care is vital to aftermath governance through community-building, care and mutual aid.
• There is much we can learn from thinking about community relations through the lens of mutual aid and collaborative care rather than hierarchical, top-down command-and-control governance systems and mechanisms.
• From Lytton to Lahaina, there are numerous lessons about Indigenous restoration and ecological practices that can shed light on improved aftermath governance.

Collaborative and participatory governance is critical for rebuilding efforts

• The reform of BC’s Emergency and Disaster Management Act (2023) signals a shift toward co-governance that emphasizes Indigenous self-determination, local accountability and relational resilience.
• Collaborative governance involves advancing governance models grounded in Indigenous law and stewardship.
• By embedding partnership within legislation, BC’s evolving wildfire governance model offers a pathway toward more integrated, equitable and resilient disaster response systems
• The creation of a post-disaster agency, alongside participatory budgeting and holistic services can improve outcomes.
• The organization ‘Āina Aloha Economic Futures released the policy playbook, Growing a Stronger Hawai‘i (2021), which offers insightful perspective on this.

Diverse sources of evidence must guide policy outcomes

• New governance approaches and models are needed for wildfire management, including those that centre ecological forms of governance.
• Disasters are focusing events, and an opportunity to envision alternative possible worlds.
• Effective governance should be informed by multiple sources to account for stories and statistics that include artistic, emotive forms of knowledge, e.g., songs, stories and plays.
• We face a vital moment for policy learning and transfer from those at the frontlines, whose knowledge is shared in a variety of forms and formats, ranging from testimonies and advocacy to artistic practices and regulatory reform.
• Future research is needed to envision pathways and possibilities for implementing grounded practices of collaborative and ecological governance, while including planetary health approaches.

Contact the researchers

Sarah Marie Wiebe, Associate Professor, School of Public Administration: swiebe@uvic.ca

Tara Mahoney, Research and Engagement Manager, CERi (Community-Engaged Research Initiative), Simon Fraser University: tara_mahoney_2@sfu.ca

Sean Holman, Wayne Crookes Professor of Environment and Climate Journalism, Faculty of Fine Arts, University of Victoria, Director, Climate Disaster Project: smholman@uvic.ca

Morgan Krakow, Research Associate with the Climate Disaster Project: morgan_krakow@sfu.ca

Further information

Read full report (Coming soon)