> ## Content Index > Fetch the complete content index at: https://www.thecanadareport.ca/llms.txt > Use this file to discover other available public pages before exploring further. # Kingston Wildfire Got an After-Action Review. N.L. Didn't Say If Cabinet Got a Report - URL: https://www.thecanadareport.ca/kingston-wildfire-after-action-review/ - Published: 2026-10-22T15:17:54.000Z - Updated: 2026-10-22T15:17:55.000Z - Description: N.L. completed after-action reviews for five emergencies since 2020, including the Kingston wildfire. It didn't say whether the minister reported to Cabinet. - Author: Steve Cogbill - Tags: Government Files, Newfoundland & Labrador Newfoundland and Labrador's Emergency Services Division has completed after-action reviews for five emergencies since 2020, including the 2025 Kingston wildfire in Conception Bay North, according to a list the province released. Asked for any report the minister made to Cabinet on that emergency, as the Emergency Services Act requires after a ministerial declaration, the department did not say whether one exists. The request, FAL-108-2026, went to the Department of Forestry, Agriculture and Lands, which houses the Emergency Services Division. It asked for three things: the rules that govern after-action reviews and debriefs after a declared emergency, a list of the reviews completed since January 1, 2020 with the date each was finished, and any report to the Lieutenant-Governor in Council under section 9(2) of the Emergency Services Act for an emergency declared during the 2025 Conception Bay North wildfires. The department answered on October 7, 2026, with a letter headed "Full Disclosure" and 26 pages of records. *Government Files analyzes records released under Canada's access-to-information laws. The full documents and how we use them are at the end of this post.* ## Five After-Action Reviews Since 2020, Including the Kingston Wildfire The last page of the release is a one-page table titled "List of After-Action Reviews, 2020 – Present." It has five rows: The Central Wildfire Complex, July 2022, with the Provincial Emergency Operations Centre activated at Level 3\. Hurricane Fiona, September 2022, Level 2\. The Labrador Wildfire, July 2024, Level 3\. The Kingston (CBN) Wildfire, August 2025, Level 3\. The Badger Ice Jam, February 2026, Level 2. Each row is marked "Yes" under "After Action Review." Three of the five are wildfires, and all three wildfires carry the Level 3 activation. The table does not explain what each level means. The list begins in 2022\. It contains no event from 2020 or 2021, although the table's own heading covers 2020 onward. The records do not say whether any emergency in those two years was reviewed. ## The List Gives Start Dates, Not Completion Dates The request asked for the date each review was completed. The table does not give one. Its date column is headed "Start Date" and records the month each event began. That matters because the province's own template sets a deadline. The After-Action Review Template in the release tells whoever runs a review to "provide a written report of the AAR to the Emergency Services Division within 90 days of the significant event." Without completion dates, the release does not show whether any of the five reviews met that timeline, including the one for the Kingston wildfire. The template itself is a blank three-page form. It asks for a lead facilitator "independent of personnel directly involved in operations of the event," a list of participants, and answers to six questions, among them whether participants had adequate training, whether communications worked, and whether there were enough resources to manage the event. It ends with five boxes for findings and five for recommendations. The release does not include any completed review. ## What the Province Said About a Report to Cabinet Section 9(1) of the Emergency Services Act lets the minister responsible declare an emergency. Section 9(2) says that, as soon as practicable after doing so, the minister must inform the Lieutenant-Governor in Council, meaning Cabinet, and report on the actions taken in response. On August 12, 2025, the Minister of Justice and Public Safety declared a regional state of emergency that included part of the Bay de Verde Peninsula, from Bristol's Hope to Whiteway, according to a provincial news release. That is a declaration by the minister, the kind section 9(2) covers. The department's answer to that item was two sentences. It said references to the Lieutenant-Governor in Council "engage provisions of the Act relating to Cabinet records," and that any records within the scope of section 9(2) "would be considered in light of those provisions." It did not say whether a report exists, did not release one, and did not cite a section of the Access to Information and Protection of Privacy Act. The Act's Cabinet confidences section, section 27, requires a public body to refuse to disclose Cabinet records. Section 17 says that when access is refused, the response must give the reasons and the provision relied on. Section 17 also lists the cases in which a public body may refuse to confirm or deny that a record exists: law enforcement, a third party's personal information, and threats to someone's health or safety. Cabinet records are not on that list. The letter does not explain how its answer fits either section. ## Municipalities Are Encouraged, Not Required, to Debrief After a Real Emergency Most of the release is two policies and a standard operating procedure. The first policy covers municipal emergency management plans, which section 5(1) of the Emergency Services Act requires every municipality, local service district and Inuit Community Government to adopt. Under the policy, plans must be tested every year and updated at least every three years. On debriefs after a real event, the wording is softer. The policy says that after an exercise or an actual emergency requiring the plan, "municipalities are encouraged to conduct a debriefing." The standard operating procedure makes a debrief mandatory only after the annual test, when the emergency management coordinator is "responsible for conducting an exercise to test the document as well as conducting a debrief after the test." Yet the policy's own assessment checklist asks reviewers to tick whether an "After-Action Report (AAR) completed and tracked" is in place. The second policy covers the provincial plan. It lists after-action reviews under recovery and says that after real events that activate the provincial plan and operations centre, "a debriefing is conducted to review what went well, identify areas for improvement, and document recommendations." It says those findings "may inform" a review of the plan. ## Both Policies Carry a March 2026 Version Date, and Neither Copy Is Signed Both policies carry the same two dates: effective January 2016, version March 2026\. That version date is seven months after the Kingston wildfire began. The records do not say what changed in March 2026 or why. The copies released are not signed. Each policy ends with a blank line for the deputy minister's signature and date. The municipal policy's "Record of Review and Amendments" table, where reviews and updates are supposed to be logged, is empty. The standard operating procedure has blank fields for its issue date, issue number and revision date. The records do not say whether signed or completed versions exist elsewhere. The procedure names the staff involved in reviewing municipal plans across the province as the Director of Emergency Services, the Manager of Plans and Operations and the regional emergency planners, and puts the number of staff required at three. ## What's Missing from the Records The request did not ask for the reviews themselves, and the release contains none. It does not say what the Kingston wildfire review found, who led it, or what it recommended. The list does not give the completion date of any review, which the request asked for, so it cannot be checked against the 90-day timeline in the province's template. The release does not say whether the minister reported to Cabinet under section 9(2) after the August 2025 declaration, when, or what the report said. The letter does not cite a section of the access law for withholding it, and does not say a record was withheld. The release also does not say what changed in the March 2026 versions of the two policies, or whether any emergency in 2020 or 2021 was reviewed. The department's letter notes that the applicant may ask the Information and Privacy Commissioner to review the response within 15 business days, or appeal directly to the Supreme Court. ## Full Document *The complete records this post is based on are available to download:* [FAL-108-2026: After-Action Review Records, N.L. Emergency Services DivisionFAL---108---2026.pdf5 MBdownload-circle](https://www.thecanadareport.ca/content/files/2026/10/FAL---108---2026.pdf "Download") If this breakdown was useful, you can [support Government Files with a one-time tip](https://www.thecanadareport.ca/#/portal/support). --- *All documents referenced are from the Newfoundland and Labrador Department of Forestry, Agriculture and Lands, request FAL-108-2026, obtained through an access to information request under the Access to Information and Protection of Privacy Act, 2015\. The records consist of the response letter, an after-action review template, the policies and procedures for municipal and provincial emergency management plans, a standard operating procedure on reviewing, exercising and debriefing municipal plans, and a list of after-action reviews from 2020 to 2026.* *Government Files is The Canada Report's public-records analysis series examining government documents obtained through Canada's Access to Information (ATI) and provincial Freedom of Information (FOI) laws. These transparency laws allow members of the public to request internal government records from federal and provincial institutions.* *This article reviews documents released through those processes and summarizes what the records contain and what they show. While we strive for accuracy, this article represents an analysis and interpretation of the source material. For complete accuracy and full context, readers should review the original documents, which are available in full above.* ## Sign up for The Canada Report Subscribe Email sent! Check your inbox to complete your signup. Your modern digest of Canadian news. Friendly, clear, and in your inbox.