Canadian wildfires displace Indigenous communities

(19 Jul 2023)

FOR CLEAN VERSION SEE STORY NUMBER: 4443094

RESTRICTION SUMMARY:
ASSOCIATED PRESS
Fort St. John, British Columbia – 2 July 2023
HEADLINE: Canadian wildfires displace Indigenous communities
1. Flames burning through tree canopy
ASSOCIATED PRESS
East Prairie Metis Settlement, Alberta – 4 July 2023
2. SOUNDBITE (English) Carrol Johnston, East Prairie Metis Settlement resident:
“It just kind of imploded. They couldn’t do nothing except for get the heck out of here because it was just burning so hot and fast, eh?
ASSOCIATED PRESS
East Prairie Metis Settlement, Alberta – 4 July 2023
3. Johnston looking at her destroyed home.
++COVERED++
4. SOUNDBITE (English) Carrol Johnston, East Prairie Metis Settlement resident:
There went our home. There went everything we owned.”
5. Trees scorched by wildfire stand in a burn area
6. More trees scorched by wildfires
ANNOTATION: The worst wildfire season in Canadian history is displacing
Indigenous communities and threatening important cultural activities.
++PARTIALLY COVERED++
7. SOUNDBITE (English) Carrol Johnston, East Prairie Metis Settlement resident:
“So it’s sad. But the upside is they’re working on getting us new modular
homes. And it’s going to be put right there on top of our old memories.”

ASSOCIATED PRESS
Edmonton, Alberta – 3 July 2023
8. Drone footage of yellow fencing surrounding a buildings destroyed by a
May wildfire at Sturgeon Lake Cree First Nation northwest of Edmonton
ANNOTATION: Fires have scorched more than 9 million hectares (22 million
acres) across the country so far, including millions of acres of Indigenous
land.

ASSOCIATED PRESS
East Prairie Metis Settlement, Alberta, Canada – 4 July 2023
9. Raymond Supernault, Chair of East Prairie Metis Settlement:
“The forestry phoned us, told us ‘evacuate’. So we started getting our
members out of East Prairie.”
10. Various of cars scorched by wildfire
++PARTIALLY COVERED++
11. Raymond Supernault, Chair of East Prairie Metis Settlement:
“Building a house is a big loss. But thank God we didn’t lose anybody. That
was a plus.”

ASSOCIATED PRESS
Fort St. John, British Columbia – 2 July 2023
12. Flames burning through tree canopy

STORYLINE:
Carrol Johnston counts her blessings as she stands on the barren site where her home was destroyed by a fast-moving wildfire that forced her to flee her northern Alberta community two months ago.

Her family escaped unharmed, though her beloved cat, Missy, didn't make it out before a “fireball” dropped on the house in early May. But peony bushes passed down from her late mother survived and the blackened Mayday tree planted in memory of her longtime partner is sending up new shoots — hopeful signs as she prepares to start over in the East Prairie Métis Settlement, about 240 miles (385 kilometers) northwest of Edmonton.

“I just can’t leave,” says Johnston, 72, who shared a home with her son and daughter-in-law. “Why would I want to leave such beautiful memories?”

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 22 million acres (9.5 million
hectares) across the country so far. As of Friday, more than 900 fires were
burning — most of them out of control — according to the Canadian
Interagency Forest Fire Centre website.

___
Associated Press climate and environmental coverage receives support from

[girlanonymous]

Praying for the Indigenous communities 🙏🏽