smoke horizon
© Oliver Pilon/SOPFEU/AFP/Getty ImagesWildfire smoke clouds the sky in northern Quebec • July 14, 2023
A Quebec man has admitted to setting a series of fires that burned hundreds of hectares of forest last year and forced hundreds of people from their homes.

Brian Pare, 38, pleaded guilty today to 13 counts of arson and one count of arson with disregard for human life at the courthouse in Chibougamau, Que.

Prosecutor Marie-Philippe Charron told the court that two of the fires set by Pare forced the June 1 evacuation of around 500 homes in Chapais, Que., a small community located around 425 kilometres northwest of Quebec City.

Charron read an agreed statement of facts detailing that the first fires were set on May 31, three days after the Quebec government banned open fires in or around forests due to dry weather conditions.

Posts on Pare's Facebook page — where he regularly posted about the wildfires, including claims that the fires had been deliberately set by the government to trick people into believing in climate change — were among the evidence that led police to him.

A pre-sentencing report has been ordered that will consider both Pare's mental state and the risk he poses to public safety.