Canada is experiencing the worst fire season in its history, with 999 active fires resulting in the total destruction of 12.3 million hectares, which went up in smoke. The flames are often located far from major Canadian cities, but they affect many Indigenous communities. Called ” first nations », these populations see their territories and their traditions upset.
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With our correspondent in Montreal, Leopold Picot
The Algonquins of Barrière Lake in northern Quebec and the Métis of the Eastern Prairies in Alberta have all been evacuated at least once this year. The natives represent 5 % of the Canadian population, but almost one in two evacuations concern them.
With the fires, there is the risk of being caught in the flames, of inhaling smoke, but also the risk of losing one’s identity. Because indigenous peoples are rooted in their forest territories : we hunt there, we gather there, we gather there, we meet there.
After the evacuations the extent of the damage upsets them. The soils being deeply burned, it will take years to grow a tree there again. Lacking vegetation to eat, caribou and moose also flee. Sacred sites are devastated, objects transmitted between generations – such as canoes or clothes – are also reduced to ashes.
A total of 25,000 locals have been evacuated since the start of the season. Due to the damage, some now see themselves as climate refugees.
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