Indigenous stewardship holds the key to wildfire prevention in national parks, Jasper hearings told

Members of Parliament along with industry forestry experts and Indigenous land stewards criticized present and past governments for not doing enough to prevent the wildfires that destroyed 30 per cent of the Jasper townsite in late July. 

Witness testimony during a parliamentary hearing Wednesday noted outrage over the lack of integration of Indigenous stewardship practices. 

Meetings started in late September to examine the reasons why the Jasper wildfire started this summer. Thousands of residents and tourists were forced to evacuate the area and more than 32,500 hectares of land was burned. 

"The intensity and prevalence of fires like these are exacerbated by climate change," said Dane de Souza, a Métis Nation wildfire researcher and firefighter.  

"However, their cause is directly tied to the colonial suppression of Indigenous fire stewardship and fire on the land," he said. 

De Souza said that Indigenous fire stewardship is a landscape-based science that is the culmination of 20,000 years of knowledge and practice. 

"Applying fire to the land has been and is a key component of how we as human beings have influenced our natural environment," de Souza said. 

"As species of trees have grown to repopulate the landscapes formed by glacial recession, my ancestors were there every single inch of the way applying fire to the landscape to engineer the ecological conditions necessary to sustain themselves."

Amy Cardinal Christianson is a policy analyst with the Indigenous Leadership Initiative and spoke about ways the federal government could put Indigenous stewardship into practice by creating roles for fire guardians across the country.

"It's such an easy win. It gives people jobs, it gets people out on their territory. It increases the health of people and their landscapes, and it also reduces fire risk," Cardinal Christianson said, also noting that training people locally would lessen the reliance on bringing in international firefighting efforts. 

Tracy Friedel is with the Lac Ste. Anne Métis Community Association and is descended from people who stewarded what is known as Jasper National Park now. 

"The history of establishing national parks in Canada is complex and controversial, particularly as it concerns the displacement of Indigenous peoples," said Friedel who researches Indigenous education. 

"These protected areas are praised for their natural beauty and their commitment to conservation, but their creation inevitably came at the expense of Indigenous peoples, some of whom lived on these lands since time immemorial."

Friedel noted efforts undertaken by the Jasper Indigenous Forum which brings together Indigenous partners and park management to engage in prescribed burns.

"Unfortunately, though, there is a lot to catch up on regarding a century of fire suppression, the impacts of climate change and wishing to meet the expectations of Jasper residents and Canadian and international visitors who desire a certain conception of nature," Friedel said.

"This type of cultural burning links to the idea of fire as medicine and was key to proper management of local ecosystems, something that Indigenous peoples were not given due credit for."   

Jim Eglinski, a retired conservative MP for Yellowhead County, also gave testimony on issues surrounding the constraining of Parks Canada employees that were critical of the Liberal government. 

"I am aware of one individual, one of the scientists working in the park, being terminated for comments that he made against management," Eglinski said in response to being asked whether he was aware of any Parks Canada employees who have been reprimanded.    

"There was a two sides to the park, ecological side and a practical side. And there was controversies within the organization. People were afraid to talk," Eglinski said. 

Committee members across the political spectrum each laid blame on another party, citing cuts in funding.  

In mid-October Jasper Mayor Richard Ireland spoke publicly about the division this rhetoric caused amid a need for healing. 

"The present atmosphere of finger pointing, blaming and both partial and misinformation is, from my perspective, beyond merely an annoying distraction. It delays healing. It introduces fresh wounds and fosters division, precisely at a time when we need recovery and unity."