The historical and contemporary uses of cultural burning have been largely omitted from strategic land-use plans, wildfire mitigation strategies, and community risk assessments. Shared governance and the right to burn across territories, including areas covered by historical and modern Treaties, has yet to be fully realized by provincially run wildfire agencies. For example, Natural Resources Canada (2020) states that approximately 2% of forested land across Canada is “owned” by Indigenous Nations, yet the complexity of ownership and lack of titled lands-the direct cause of historical and ongoing colonization-over vast and overlapping territories is not accurately represented in this statistic ( Branch 2020 Fig. 1). There are also major barriers to utilizing cultural burning across broader Indigenous territories, which is considered Crown land under the statutory authority of provincial or federal governments.
In Canada, First Nations 1 retain the right to undertake cultural burning on reserve lands, but significant wildfire agency oversight and control is often required, leading to tensions when cultural burning goes ahead with no formal government (municipal, provincial, and (or) federal) approval. Importantly, prescribed burning is distinct from cultural burning, primarily in the burn objectives, techniques used to burn, and who is conducting the burning. There is a renewed interest by wildfire management agencies in Canada to use prescribed burning to reduce wildfire risk. The future and coexistence with fire in Canada needs to be a shared responsibility and led by Indigenous Peoples within their territories. Despite growing concerns over wildfire risk and agency-stated intentions to establish Indigenous Peoples as partners in wildfire management, power imbalances still exist. We also provide calls to action to assist with reducing preconceptions and misinformation and focus on creating space and respect for different knowledges and experiences. In this perspective, we demonstrate the benefits of cultural burning and identify five key barriers to advancing Indigenous fire stewardship in Canada.
Therefore, it is critical to uphold Indigenous expertise in leading effective and socially just fire stewardship. Indigenous communities in Canada have unique vulnerabilities to large and high-intensity wildfires as they are predominately located in remote, forested regions and lack financial support at federal and provincial levels to mitigate wildfire risk. Although Indigenous Peoples have maintained fire stewardship practices for millennia and continue to be keepers of fire knowledge, significant barriers exist for re-engaging in cultural burning.
Indigenous fire stewardship enhances ecosystem diversity, assists with the management of complex resources, and reduces wildfire risk by lessening fuel loads.
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