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Rekindling the Flames: Empowering Indigenous Fire Stewardship for a Resilient Canada
By Len Garis and Mandy Desautels
Wildfires are an escalating threat across Canada, posing significant risks to communities, ecosystems, and infrastructure. As the frequency and intensity of these events grow, there is a critical need to re-evaluate current wildfire management strategies and integrate diverse knowledge systems. Crucially, Indigenous communities, who have stewarded these lands for millennia with profound understanding of fire’s role, offer invaluable insights and practices that are essential for building a more resilient future. This article explores the historical context of Indigenous fire management, the current challenges faced by these communities, the successes of Indigenous-led initiatives, and the imperative for genuine collaboration and Indigenous fire sovereignty in Canadian wildfire efforts.
This article is based on a preliminary literature review on wildfires conducted by the University of Waterloo, authored by H. Odia and E. Weckman. This review was prepared for the National Indigenous Fire Safety Council (NIFSC) with support from Natural Resources Canada (NRCan) through the Build and Mobilize Foundational Wildland Fire Knowledge Program: Project WRFIFK-NIFSC: WUI Fire Safety in Canadian Indigenous Communities. NIFSC also receives support from Indigenous Services Canada.
A History of Harmony and Disruption
For countless generations, Indigenous populations across North America have utilized fire as a fundamental tool for managing wildlands. This deep knowledge, passed down orally and through practice, views fire not merely as a destructive force, but as a living entity integral to the natural world. Traditional practices, often termed “cultural burning,” involve the intentional and controlled application of fire to achieve specific cultural and ecological outcomes.
Indigenous communities historically employed fire for a wide array of purposes, including managing overgrowth, curtailing invasive species, and promoting the regeneration of fire-dependent flora. These controlled burns enhanced biodiversity, cleared land for easier hunting, and revitalized areas rich in traditional medicinal plants and food sources like berries. Fire was also vital for cooking and warmth, underscoring its multifaceted role in daily life and spiritual ceremonies, where Sacred fires symbolized life and spirit. The Peavine Metis Settlement in Alberta, for instance, historically used fire to boost berry production and clear land for hunting. This historical record firmly dispels any notion that Indigenous Peoples were merely hunter-gatherers who left the wildlands untended; rather, they were active and skilled land managers.
However, the arrival of European settlers ushered in an era of stringent fire suppression policies, effectively obstructing these long-standing traditions. By the late 1800s and early 1900s, the Canadian government aggressively pursued fire suppression, prioritizing it over traditional Indigenous fire management. This period saw Indigenous communities forcibly displaced and relocated, severing their profound cultural and spiritual connections to their traditional territories. Provinces like British Columbia began banning Indigenous burning practices as early as 1874, often with threats of fines and imprisonment, a trend that soon spread nationwide. Anti-fire propaganda, such as the “Smoky Bear” campaign, further exacerbated negative perceptions of traditional burning, leading to a significant decline in Indigenous fire practices and a loss of connection to vital land-based beliefs and rituals. While cultural knowledge persisted orally in some communities, many became disconnected from these practices over decades.
Barriers to Indigenous Fire Sovereignty
Despite a shifting governmental perspective in the 1970s towards reintroducing fire in forest management, the approach remained largely centralized, perpetuating a “top-down” model that largely overlooked Indigenous expertise. This centralized power dynamic continues to be a primary barrier to successful Indigenous-led fire management projects today.
Indigenous communities possess unique local knowledge and capacity for developing effective fire management programs, with elders having passed down generations of leadership and training. However, this invaluable expertise is often not recognized by government agencies. Existing governance structures frequently impede the transfer of knowledge and expertise due to their centralized nature, which undermines the incorporation of local knowledge. A stark example of this disengagement was seen in a collaborative helicopter burning program in Northern Australia, where Aboriginal participants felt sidelined by the prioritization of Western technology in what was intended to be a ‘collaborative’ approach.
Furthermore, Indigenous communities face significant bureaucratic and financial hurdles. Many are challenged due to a lack of capacity and autonomy to implement wildland fire risk and management projects, relying heavily on federal funding to cover the costs of emergency planning and response. Shortfalls in this funding often force Indigenous communities to absorb emergency response costs from their already limited resources. Indigenous community members frequently encounter bureaucratic barriers when attempting to practice fire stewardship. They are required to submit burn plans and have them approved by government to initiate cultural burns. Not only are the burn plans very formal and often lengthy, but they clearly place value on Western scientific criteria for burning, such as details about moisture codes and fuel types rather than acknowledging the traditional knowledge and practices held within the Indigenous communities. Getting a classic burn plan approved is lengthy and onerous, and Indigenous communities can spend months working on proposals that are then often rejected by the government.
Pathways to Collaborative Success
Despite these significant challenges, genuine collaborations between Indigenous and non-Indigenous partners have proven critical to the success of Indigenous-led fire management projects. Cultural burns, when implemented with an Indigenous-centered, multi-faceted approach, have demonstrated success in mitigating wildfire risk. Beyond ecological benefits, these initiatives foster intergenerational teachings, strengthen community building, and positively contribute to the mental well-being of the entire community. A recent study in Brazil, for instance, revealed that prescribed burning reduced wildfire severity, with less than 32,000 ha burned in 2016 compared to over 85,000 ha in 2014.
A notable example is a pilot fire stewardship program in partnership with Yunesit’in First Nations, supported by The Gathering Voices Society. This program aimed to re-establish Indigenous knowledge in wildland management and fire stewardship training, beginning in 2019 by training six community members under the guidance of Victor Steffensen, an Indigenous fire expert from Australia. Participation steadily grew, involving elders, youth, and women, thereby greatly supporting knowledge transfer across generations. Programs like this are vital for promoting fire stewardship within Indigenous communities and their frameworks should be evaluated for efficacy in other locations.
British Columbia has been at the forefront of establishing collaborative fire management programs, including community forests governed by First Nations that can form new liaisons between communities and government agencies. Crucially, these initiatives strongly value the cultural importance of Indigenous fire management. Such diverse approaches promote ecosystem restoration, hazard reduction, and the revitalization of cultural practices. A key element of success in cultural burning is ensuring that both Indigenous and non-Indigenous goals are considered. Building trust between Indigenous and non-Indigenous participants and agencies is also essential, requiring time, dedication, and empathy. The adoption of the United Nations Declaration on the Rights of Indigenous Peoples (UNDRIP) in Canada, for instance, has spurred trust-building processes aimed at promoting engaging, genuine conversations regarding advocacy for Indigenous populations.
The Human Element: Evacuations and Risk
The experiences of Indigenous communities during wildfire events are often characterized by significant negative impacts. Evacuations, in particular, can have detrimental long-term effects on the mental and emotional well-being of evacuees, fostering feelings of anxiety, uncertainty, and stress. For many Indigenous individuals, an evacuation may be their first time leaving their community or region, leading to profound feelings of disruption and loss; feelings exacerbated when there is no pre-knowledge about the potential for this to be required. This is particularly acute given their strong place attachment and the positive sense of well-being derived from being on their land. Studies have revealed issues such as inadequate preparation from both the affected and host communities, experiences of discrimination from local people within host communities, and separation from family members during relocation to host towns.
Furthermore, negative experiences often persist even after returning home. Many communities report confusing and lengthy reimbursement processes. For example, the Dene Tha’ First Nation faced challenges receiving full reimbursement for costs incurred during their 2012 wildfire evacuation, leaving over CAD 160,000 outstanding from the federal government.
Despite these challenges, some Indigenous communities have demonstrated remarkable resilience and capacity in managing wildfire events. Local leadership teams, including Chiefs, First Nations employees, and individuals trained as firefighters, have worked hard in previous wildfire events to meet the needs of evacuated community members and protect physical elements of the environment. During the Dene Tha’ First Nation evacuation, local leadership carried out maintenance around the settlement and provided evacuees with accurate information. In several cases, an employee and fire chief remained in the community to feed settlement members’ pets, provide general security, and ensure that the entrance to the area was blocked. When appropriate, some evacuees were invited to return briefly to collect essential items like money and clothing. These measures helped to reduce the anxiety of individual community members about the well-being of their homes and pets. Research indicates that individuals denied access to their communities see that as a source of conflict and may be less likely to evacuate in the future.
Building a Resilient Future
The current understanding of wildfire risk needs to be fundamentally reimagined to truly support Indigenous communities. Conventional risk assessment often relies on individual or group-level checklists, which fail to account for the unique social and cultural risks faced by people throughout the emergency and recovery process. For instance, the principle of keeping families together during triage is often applied only to nuclear family units, leading to the separation of extended Indigenous families during emergencies. Instead, “at risk” notions should be viewed as a continually evolving phenomenon, continuously assessed during preparation, emergency, and recovery phases of wildfire disasters. New, Indigenous-developed criteria for wildfire risk are essential, empowering communities to define and consider their specific challenges.
To bridge the existing gaps in wildfire management, there is an urgent need for Indigenous-led wildfire emergency management procedures which empower Indigenous communities to implement a cohesive, collaborative fire management protocol for their own communities. This requires a stronger federal commitment to assisting communities with funding for such projects, as current mechanisms are insufficient for meeting the rising needs during ever worsening wildfire seasons. Additional funding could support comprehensive planning, bolster emergency management and response capacity, and establish paid emergency management positions, as many communities currently rely on volunteers for this position.
Furthermore, establishing Indigenous sovereignty over traditional lands and providing legal protection for fire stewardship are critical. The United Nations Declaration on the Rights of Indigenous Peoples (UNDRIP) provides a framework for this, with precedents such as the Monkoxi Indigenous Nation in Bolivia using UNDRIP to gain legal authority over their traditional territory. In Canada, efforts like the tripartite collaborative emergency management agreement between the Tsilhqot’in Nation and Province of British Columbia created in 2018 recognize the Tsilhqot’in as leaders and partners in emergency management. Indigenous-led fire stewardship, supported by local collaborations (as appropriate), must become the norm, instead of decisions being made by centralized agencies.
Increased opportunities for wildfire-related training are also vital for Indigenous communities. This training should focus on enhancing knowledge of wildfire risk, management practices, and mitigation, leading to the establishment of Indigenous firefighting crews, community liaisons, and full-time Indigenous-led emergency management roles. Such investments not only benefit community members and advance wildfire management plans but also offer long-term employment opportunities and avenues for Indigenous leadership to be represented across all levels of fire organizations. Importantly, Indigenous-led community training can help reintroduce traditional fire knowledge to younger generations, especially in communities where these practices were suppressed. The sharing of advice and leadership frameworks between Indigenous populations globally, known as policy transfer, also holds significant promise for bolstering local fire management policies in countries with heavily centralized fire management programs.
Conclusion
The escalating threat of wildfires in Canada underscores the urgent need for a paradigm shift in wildfire management. By recognizing, respecting, and empowering Indigenous fire sovereignty and traditional ecological knowledge, Canada can forge a more effective, culturally sensitive, and resilient approach to fire management. Integrating Indigenous-led initiatives, providing sufficient and sustained funding, and fostering genuine collaborative relationships will not only enhance wildfire mitigation and response but also contribute to the long-term well-being and self-determination of Indigenous communities across the nation. The path forward is clear: to truly safeguard Canada’s lands and communities from the growing threat of wildfires, we must rekindle the flames of Indigenous wisdom and leadership.
Authors
Len Garis is director of research for the National Indigenous Fire Safety Council, Ret. Fire Chief for the city of Surrey, B.C., associate scientist emeritus with the B.C. Injury Research and Prevention Unit. Contact him at lwgaris@outlook.com.
Mandy Desautels is Chief Administrative Officer at the National Indigenous Fire Safety Council, a project of the Aboriginal Firefighters Association of Canada. Prior to joining NIFSC, she worked for BC Emergency Health Services and prominent NGOs. Contact her at mandy.desautels@indigenousfiresafety.ca