Canadian wildfires hit Indigenous communities hard, threatening their land and culture

By TAMMY WEBBER and NOAH BERGER
Associated Press

EAST PRAIRIE METIS SETTLEMENT, Alberta (AP) — The worst wildfire season in Canadian history is displacing Indigenous communities from Nova Scotia to British Columbia, blanketing them in thick smoke, destroying homes and forests and threatening important cultural activities like hunting, fishing and gathering native plants. Thousands of fires have scorched more than 42,000 square miles (110,000 square kilometers) across the country so far, including Indigenous land, where communities often are isolated. Fires aren’t uncommon on Indigenous lands, but are occurring over such a widespread area that many more people are experiencing them at the same time — some for the first time — stoking fears of what a hotter, drier future will bring.