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This paper analyzes the record-breaking 2023 wildfires in British Columbia, detailing their significant ecological and social impacts, which are seen as the result of a century of altered relationships with fire intensified by climate change. The authors argue for an urgent transformative shift towards coexisting with wildfire, moving beyond suppression to embrace its ecological role and Indigenous stewardship practices. The paper proposes six interrelated strategies to achieve this coexistence: diversifying wildfire response, increasing suppression capacity, mitigating community risk, implementing landscape fire management, transforming wildfire governance, and strengthening expertise. This paper emphasizes the need for a holistic, all-of-society approach involving policy changes, sustained funding, and collaboration to build resilience against future extreme wildfires.

This document introduces the Mitigating Wildfire Initiative, an effort to address catastrophic wildfires in British Columbia through dialogue and collaboration among diverse groups, including Indigenous Peoples and local communities. The MWI has four key objectives: strengthening relationships, improving understanding of wildfire issues, creating a shared agenda for mitigation, and achieving real-world impact. The document delves into the complex concept of resilience in the context of wildfire, differentiating between ecological, social, and social-ecological perspectives, and emphasizes the importance of place-based and context-specific discussions for effective strategies. Finally, it outlines five interconnected categories of progress being made toward wildfire resilience in BC including planning, operations, networking, research and knowledge generation, and public engagement, highlighting the need for an all-of-society approach and proactive, dynamic management.