Canadian wildfires are disproportionately affecting Indigenous people at a greater rate than non-Indigenous Canadians, a recent report finds.
The audit published in June by Indigenous Services Canada and authored by a Metis fire researcher, found that in the past 13 years, Indigenous communities had more than 1,300 wildfire-related emergencies leading to more than 580 evacuations, which impacted over 130,000 people.
Although Indigenous people are roughly five per cent of Canada’s population, Indigenous communities make up 42 per cent of wildfire evacuations in the past decade, according to
Wildfire science expert Amy Christianson, a Métis woman and author of two books on the subject, told CTV’s Your Morning on Friday one reason why Indigenous communities are disproportionately impacted is because of location.
“Many Indigenous communities are often remote and have one road in and one road out, and sometimes only fly-in access to those communities when an event happens,†she said.
While people who live in urban areas might be affected by the smoke from wildfires, Indigenous people who live on the front lines suffer the consequences on their livelihood and relation to the land.
“Not only is their life changing just from having to evacuate and things like that, but then also they are losing areas of that territory where they go and carry out their cultural activities like subsistence and hunting,†said Christianson.
Christianson also mentioned oftentimes these communities are located near fire-dependent forests such as the boreal forests, which need natural fires to stay healthy.
Before confederation and fire-exclusion policies were implemented, Indigenous people had cultural burning practices around their communities, she explained.
“Fire can really improve the production of berries around certain areas. Fire brings healthy new green grass that attracts deer and moose to the area,†she said.
Since many of these traditional fire stewardship practices are criminalized under Canadian law, Indigenous people have not been able to manage the flammable materials near their local land.
Now, due to climate change, higher than normal droughts and years of not practicing prescribed fires, Canada is seeing its worst wildfire season in history in terms of intensity and the number of fires.
To reduce future risks on Indigenous communities, Christianson recommends control burning in the early spring or late fall to achieve both cultural objectives and to remove vegetation that could potentially be threatening during hot dry seasons.
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