British Columbia is Burning

B.C.’s wildfires spread at unprecedented speeds, resulting in tens of thousands of evacuations and a province-wide state of emergency. Yet, nationally, the fires didn’t garner the same level of media attention as Northern Ontario’s fires last month. Why the disconnect?

Arno Kopecky joins to unpack the coverage of the BC wildfires and explain why climate change should be a bigger part of the coverage, and why wildfires have sparked a growing trend of misinformation and AI-generated slop online.

Plus, hear the resurfaced hip hop tracks that have advocacy groups calling for the resignation of a Nova Scotia cabinet minister

Host: Jesse Brown

Credits: James Nicholson (Producer), Kallan Lyons (Associate Producer and Fact Checking), Caleb Thompson (Mixing and Mastering), Tristan Capacchione (Senior Production Supervisor), Jesse Brown (Editor)

Guest: Arno Kopecky

Photo: BC Wildfire Service

Further reading:

• Inside the early battle against the ferocious Bald Range wildfire - The Globe and Mail
• Geoff Russ: Yes, the B.C. wildfires should be politicized | National Post
• Canada is burning. Why won’t CBC tell us why? - Ricochet
• Canada Is Primed to Burn. Why Aren’t We Ready? | The Walrus
• With AI slop, Canadian wildfire misinformation is mutating online | The Narwhal
• A Wildfire Memo to Mark Carney: We Need New Water Bombers Now - Policy Magazine
• Nova Scotia minister faces calls to resign over resurfaced rap lyrics - Halifax | Globalnews.ca

Next month on Off The Record we are back to our call-in show format. On Thursday August 27, 2026 we will be taking your calls on a new question:

What do you wish you had known when starting school or what’s a piece of advice you would give to someone starting school. Kindergarten, Middle school, High school, CEGEP, university, anything!

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