Photo: The Canadian Press
The Elephant Hill wildfire is burning in the distance near Clinton in 2017.
A native review of a massive wildfire that destroyed more than 100 homes in the southern interior of British Columbia four years ago has generated 30 calls for action to improve wildlife management and restoration practices.
The Elephant Hill wildfire burned more than 1,900 square miles of land in the summer of 2017, directly affecting several First Nations.
The report published by the Secwepemcúl’ecw Restoration and Stewardship Society argues that the fire could have been better managed if the province, including the wildlife fire service, had worked with indigenous communities earlier and more actively throughout the effort and recovery processes.
The community based in Kamloops was founded by eight Secwépemc communities affected by the flame, and the report describes their experiences and pushes towards a more collaborative approach with the BC government.
It claims that poor communication, lack of guidance from the province on immediate threats of wildfires and evacuations, as well as widespread frustration that Secwépemc’s knowledge and abilities were ignored, have led to “deep distrust of fire authorities and a strong sense of being on” your own’.”
A joint management council was later set up to respond to the Elephant Hill fire involving both Secwépemc and provincial officials. The report says that the majority of those interviewed during the review felt that the process succeeded in strengthening the relationships. But it points to a disruption between BC’s high commitment to implementing the United Nations Declaration on the Rights of Indigenous Peoples and the way in which First Nations are supported and involved in decision – making in their territories.
Wildfires, which are becoming more and more intense with climate change, mean that promoting indigenous leadership in wildlife management not only requires upholding native rights, it says, but also “confronting the underlying issues of unsustainable resource extraction and land and fire management” , which has created the conditions “for recurring, major fires.
“I’ve been through two mega-fires and I’ve seen the impacts, my community members have seen the impacts, and it’s time for a change,” said Angie Kane, CEO of Secwepemcúl’ecw Restoration and Stewardship Society.
“It’s a collective leadership, and our government really needs to sit down and renew its forestry practices as well as its firefighting processes,” said Kane, who worked as manager of High Bar First Nation and lived in Clinton when the Elephant Hill fire broke out. swept in. through the area.
Sarah Dickson-Hoyle, co-author of the report and a doctoral candidate at the Faculty of Forestry at the University of British Columbia, pointed to a specific example of how the province could have improved its response.
Ranchers and hunters from the Skeetchestn Indian Band went to the fire department camp and offered to share their deep knowledge of the country, but they were met with setbacks or lack of recognition of their expertise, she said.
There were some exceptions, she noted, including an Australian firefighter stationed near the nation’s reserve in Deadman Valley, where wind patterns are known to change during the day. He worked with Skeetchest members to determine firefighting strategies, she said.
The Elephant Hill review included interviews with wildlife officials and found “widespread agreement” that in 2017 there were no consistent, meaningful expectations for their firefighters to work with First Nations or other communities, Dickson-Hoyle said in an interview. .
The degree to which First Nations is involved in the official response to wildfires in BC seems to depend on the event leader at the time, she said, noting that crews often rotate every two weeks and that relationship building between firefighters and local leaders must start over. again.
The report calls on the wildlife fire service to provide consistent guidance to all incident leaders to connect with local First Nations representatives immediately when responding to a fire, and to strengthen the role of First Nations liaison officers who can share information with the wider community. and facilitate collaboration with local knowledge providers.
Although there have been some positive changes since 2017, Dickson-Hoyle said First Nations still does not see in-depth meetings prior to each fire season. The report calls for meetings to identify key contact points and existing resources, such as community members trained in firefighting.
“We have spent billions of dollars on fighting wildfires,” she said. “I just wonder how things could have been different if so much money had been spent on capacity building and resources and planning with First Nations.”
The BC government did not immediately respond to a request for comment.
The Elephant Hill report calls for long-term funding to establish First Nations emergency response offices, including resources and training for emergency response coordinator roles, initial attack crews and indigenous firefighters.
It requires a licensing system with more flexibility and reduced oversight of cultural burning or lighting of bonfires for cultural purposes when conditions were favorable, a practice that was suppressed over the last century.
Dickson-Hoyle also works with the Wood Laboratory at the University of BC to determine the fire history across the southern interior and found that many flames before the early 1900s were the result of indigenous people lighting fires for cultural purposes. . The low-intensity flames would clean the land of fallen leaves, branches and brushes that provide fuel for major fires, she said.
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