New report says Indigenous communities significantly impacted by 2023 wildfire season
A new government report looking at the effects of the 2023 wildfire season on Indigenous communities shows that evacuations had a significant psychological effect on people. “In terms of long-term impacts, what came out of the analyses was a lack of access to traditional activities,” Statistics Canada analyst Lori Hohban, the lead author of the report, said. “So that means inability to be trapping, hunting, fishing, collecting medicines. These are tied to food security, emotional and spiritual health, psychological and mental well-being. Like those are big impacts.” The report makes a number of other findings such as 42 per cent of wildfire evacuations in 2023 were from communities where more than half the population was Indigenous, Indigenous people were often evacuated to places far from their home communities with families separated causing psychological stress and wildfires were among the top four most frequently reported extreme weather events by Indigenous people. Another finding said First Nations, Métis and Inuit communities were exposed to harmful smoke from wildfires for extended periods of time. For example, the report said First Nations people living in the Hay River area of Alberta and Métis people in the province’s Rainbow Lake area were each exposed to harmful smoke for 137 days and Inuit living in Fort Smith, Northwest Territories for 101 days. “The number of days that Indigenous people, in particular, experienced very high health risk or high health risk was quite significant,” Hohban said. She said the report comes at a time when wildfires are becoming more frequent, lasting longer and more severe due to climate changes. “Several weather events and natural disasters are increasing; we know that,” Hohban said. “Wildfires and forest fires – they’re increasing in frequency and intensity. They’re causing longer fire seasons.” She said the hope is the data will help provincial and federal governments better prepare for recurring wildfire seasons. Continue Reading