Indigenous Guardians Critical to Canada’s Wildfire Response, Say Experts
October 30, 2024 | Source: UNDRR | by Gaye Taylor
As Canada concludes what will be its second-largest wildfire season in two decades, experts and front-line responders are urging policy-makers to enable First Nations participation in firefighting operations.
Indigenous knowledge and its keepers stand ready to play a central role in Canada’s wildfire response, Amy Cardinal Christianson, policy adviser with the Indigenous Leadership Initiative, writes in a recent op-ed for The Globe and Mail.
“Many First Nations have local crews trained to fight fires,” Christianson writes, but they often encounter barriers to joining provincial response efforts due to safety regulations and protocols.
An expert in Indigenous fire stewardship and wildland firefighting, Christianson highlights the case of the Flanagan wildfire that emerged along a remote section of the Saskatchewan-Manitoba border in August. During this incident, the Saskatchewan Public Safety Agency (SPSA) did not allow the Prince Albert Grand Council (PAGC) to deploy its 300 trained Indigenous firefighters.
Citing Peter Ballantyne First Nation, Christianson writes that the SPSA refused to greenlight the Indigenous wildfire crew because the team lacked personal protective equipment. But in a statement issued at the time, Chief Peter Beatty said the crew had “the necessary gear, including fire hats and boots.”