Nearly 900 wildfires are burning across Canada, and early estimates suggest Ontario is experiencing its worst wildfire season on record. In Northwest Ontario, more than a dozen communities – most of which are First Nations – have been evacuated, with some people taken to places as far away as Niagara Falls. As fire seasons get worse, Indigenous people are disproportionately affected, but their historical practices of forest management – practices that could improve conditions – had historically been suppressed in much of Canada.

Riley Yesno is an Anishinaabe scholar, writer, and commentator from Eabametoong First Nation, and is a distinguished fellow with the Yellowhead Institute. She joins us to talk about how Indigenous fire practices keep forests healthy, and what happens when the people with the most experience in facing wildfires are also the people who have historically been disempowered from managing them.

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